"-•-i. 










''AVa\ -"^o ..** .^^§i&s'. ^^ ^* .'ivVl-- "^ 








<L^ o 



CHE-LE-CO-THE 



GLIMPSES OF YESTERDAY 






a souvenir of . 

The Hundredth Anniversary of .^ ^ 

The Founding of Chillicothe, Ohio 

APRIL, 1896 






CHILLICOTHE, OHIO 
1896 



4, 



/v. 






Copyright, 1896 

BY 

L. W. RENICK §;^juv. 



Ubc KnictcrboclxT (tcse, Ytow iTork 



PREFACE. 

THE object of producing this Cen- 
tennial Souvenir Book of Chillico- 
the, is, to preserve in some substantial 
form, not precisely historical or biographical 
sketches, but a review of incidents, cus- 
toms, and traditions — unwritten history 
— of the early part of this first century of 
Chillicothe's existence. To rescue from 
the dim twilight, cherished memories, 
before the writers have passed to their 
reward — a kind of "human herbarium of 
pressed leaves and flowers " — for all those 
who may be interested. 

Some of the articles have been culled 
from different sources, and when two or 
more have written on the same subject, 
we have incorporated them into one, — as 



iv Preface. 

the articles of Thomas Worthington, First 
Presbyterian Church, and the Methodist 
Church. 

We regret that limited space has neces- 
sitated cutting, in many of the articles. 

We thank most cordially all those who 
have aided us in our work, by their in- 
terest, pictures, and contributions. 

We have made no attempt at great 
thingSy but have striven conscientiously 
to present facts correctly, which we now 
leave with a lenient public. 

L. W. Renick 

M. D. FULLERTON 
M. P. NiPGEN. 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE 



Prologue — Mary Probasco Nipgen . i 

The Old Town Beautiful — Olivia Allston 

Stone 4 

General Nathaniel Massie — David Meade 

Massie 13 

Edward Tiffin — Margaret Cook Gilmore . ^^ 
Thomas Worthington, the Pioneer — 

Eleanor Watts Piatt and Thomas 

Walsh 43 

Duncan McArthur — Allen Scott . 65 

William Allen — Efifie Allen Scott 71 

Presentation of Sword to Colonel 

Croghan 77 

" The Rest is Silence " — Eleanor Waddle . 79 



V 



vi Contents. 



The First Presbyterian Church — Harriet 
Sill, Margaret Silvey Pugsley, Angus L. 
Waddle 80 

Society in the Early Days — Ellen Tiffin 

Cook 95 

The Old Elm — Mary Probasco Nipgen . 109 
The Old Bridge — Charles Tayloe Mason . 114 
The Methodist Church — Ellen Tiffin Cook 

and Angus L. Waddle . . . .134 
To a Group of Maidens — Mary Probasco 

Nipgen 140 

The Academy — John McCoy . . . 142 
The Third Presbyterian Church — James 

McL. Welsh 150 

Miss Baskerville 155 

A Memory — Elizabeth Waddle Renick 164 

St. Paul's Episcopal Church — Elizabeth 

Woodbridge 170 

The Chillicothe Female Seminary — Jane 

McCoy Waddle 186 

The Campaign of 1840 and the Great Fire 

of 1852 — Wm. T. McClintock . .194 



Contents, vii 



Presentation of Cane to General Har- 
rison — Andrew Carson .... 208 

The Catholic Church — John Poland 213 

An Old Historic Home — Ellen Tiffin 

Cook 226 

A Society Sketch, 1830-1850 — L. F. R. . 230 

A Reminiscence — Emin Bey's Visit — Mar- 
garet Dixon Fullerton .... 240 

The Western Building in the Fifties — 

B. F. Sproat 249 

Lucy Webb Hayes — Margaret Cook Gilmore 254 




ILLUSTRATIONS. 



PAGE 



The Old Town Beautiful . Frontispiece 
General Nathaniel Massie ... 13 
Governor Thomas Worthington — Gov- 
ernor Edward Tiffin - - - ZZ 

Adena 43 

Governor William Allen — Governor 

Duncan McArthur .... 65 

Fruit Hill 70 

First Presbyterian Church ... 80 

A Glympse of Yesterday .... 95 

The Old Elm 109 

The Old Bridge 114 

End View of Framing — Looking North 120 

Skeleton Trusses of the Two Spans . 130 

Stairway in the Fullerton Homestead 140 

Miss Baskerville 155 

The Madeira House 164 

ix 



Illustrations, 



St. Paul's Church — 1821 . 
Bishop McIlvaine 
St. Paul's Episcopal Church 
Paint Street in 1830 
The Scioto Valley . 
Lucy Webb Hayes 



PAGE 

176 
182 



.^^ 







I 



CHE-LE-CO-THE, 




PROLOGUE. 

" /''^ F making books there is no end," 
1/ The wisest man of all so penned. 

Now, books in ages that have passed, 
Have multiplied as thick and fast 
As leaves upon the myriad trees ; 
Or sands beneath the restless seas. 
We trust there 's room for just one more 
Small volume of forgotten lore, 
Of those who lived, and loved, and died, 
Now swept by Time's resistless tide 
To the Beyond. Fate spare the day, 
When mem'ry dim shall melt away. 
When all the good of other days. 
Sinks 'neath Oblivion's misty haze. 
We love the things of olden days. 
Old friends, old books, old times, old ways : 
And these we would perpetuate ; 
Their noblest virtues emulate. 
In every home are household graves, 
I 



Che-Le- Co- The, 

Where yearning nature sometimes craves 
The priv'lege sweet of tears and prayer, 
Mid sacred relics treasured there ; 
We claim prerogative to tread 
These precious chambers of the dead. 
With solemn mien (the world denied), 
With bated breath, without a guide, 
We lift the latch, unclose the doors. 
And view prized archives, hidden stores. 
A weird and mystic charm is cast 
As 'neath the rubbish of the past 
We rummage chests in sacred trust. 
Capture some gems from attic dust ; 
While delving midst these relics grim. 
The lights, the shades, so strange, so dim. 
Unearth wild phantoms, fears and doubt. 
While shadows vague flit in and out. 
In retrospective, pensive mood. 
With throbbing pulse, we ponder — brood. 
With brain afire : — tears dim the eye. 
While tokens all around us lie 
Of broken hearts : what mighty power 
For grief, distress, this withered flower, 
That rusty sword, that broken spur. 
Romantic reveries sweetly stir. 
Here, tender love enshrines with care. 
The vestments of a Bride most fair ; 
The wreath, the veil, the stately gown 
Were never privileged to be worn ; 



Glimpses of Yesterday. 

The angels bore her soul away, 
Before the happy nuptial day. 
A dirge was sung for bridal bliss. 
Lo ! what a metamorphosis — 
With pungent odors mingled well, 
Thyme, marigold, and asphodel. 
Thus shrouded in the mouldy past, 
In shadows deep, we stand aghast ; 
Think of the hopes, the joys, the tears, 
The struggling, earnest, hopeful years ; 
And long for limner's power to paint 
The merry maiden, modest saint ; 
Or yearn for Poet's pen of fire, 
To tell of courtly knight or squire ; 
Perchance, these echoes crystallize. 
And make them living memories. 
We thus preserve some choicest bits, 
Of beaux and belles, savants and wits ; 
Where history fails of this old town. 
Dear Chillicothe, of renown. 



THE OLD TOWN BEAUTIFUL. 

WHO does not remember the dainty 
bit of landscape which Chaucer 
reveals to our charmed vision at the be- 
ginning of the Clerkes Tale, 

Ther is right at the West side of Itaille 
Doun at the rote of Vesulus the cold, 

A lusty plain habundant of vitaille, 

Ther many a toun and tour thou maist behold, 
That founded were in time of fathers old. 

And many another delitable sighte. 

And Saluces this noble contree highte. 

He wrote with love in his heart for the 
beautiful land he describes, but with no 
warmer admiration for its beauty, or more 
loyal devotion to that sunny clime, than 
do the sons and daughters of Chillicothe 
feel to-day for their home, as they stand 

4 



Glimpses of Yesterday. 5 

upon the brow of the hill and look with 
pride upon the broad valley below, in the 
centre of which their historic old town 
gleams as its noblest gem. 

When we consider that nearly five hun- 
dred years have passed since Chaucer 
gazed upon that scene, already hoary with 
age and heavy with history and romance, 
Ohio's first capital seems to be but at the 
threshold of her life now that she has 
reached the early age of a hundred years. 

The hand of man wrought much of the 
picturesque into the older civilization, but 
the ancient '' toun and tour" are swept 
out of sight by the wonders of only fifty 
years of the march of modern civilization ; 
and a far more potent factor than man was 
building for us of the human race better 
than she knew. The hand of nature, 
ignoring such futile distinctions as time 
and space, wrought on with all the re- 
sources of eternity at her command, up- 
heaving, constructing, or, with one touch 
of her finger, casting over what she had 



6 Che-Le- Co- The, 

already created the noiseless wave of 
decay, until the waters parted, and, across 
the ocean, " Vesulus the cold " reared its 
head, overlooking ''the lusty plain habun- 
dant of vitaille," while, at the same time, 
on this continent, as fair a picture was 
preparing for those " fathers old " who 
were to found, in the happy valley of the 
Scioto, the old Town Beautiful. 

Charming, indeed, are her environ- 
ments. At sunset, on *' a rare day in 
June," although catching glimpses of 
beauty here and there as you climb the 
rather steep ascent, you are scarcely pre- 
pared for the glorious landscape rolled 
out before you, when you have reached the 
summit of the hill and gaze — spell-bound. 

On the western side the rocky walls of 
Paint Creek follow the meanderings of 
the ever-changing little stream, until they 
lose themselves in the wild, rugged, and 
precipitous formations of the picturesque 
cliffs and the still more enchanting wizard- 
haunted caves of Highland. 



Glimpses of Yesterday. 7 

Upon the eastern horizon rises the 
chain of mountain-like hills, distinguished 
by its chief, old Mount Logan, who lifts 
his revered crest six hundred feet above 
the slow, silver Scioto, which winds its 
leisurely way through fields of golden 
grain, green pasture lands, and cool wood- 
lands, murmuring thrilling tales of the 
olden time as it flows on through the 
broad valley to fall safely at last into 
the sheltering bosom of the Ohio. 

What would we not give to understand 
the language of the Naiades, who bubble 
forth these old-time tales so ceaselessly. 
We deem ourselves old, in that a hundred 
years have rolled away since the first log 
hut w^as raised ; but to these silvery re- 
corders, a century is but a second in time, 
our civilization, a babe in arms, and even 
the '* cycle of Cathay" in its early youth. 
They could tell the story of a race, whose 
people and homes crowded upon each 
other in this our valley ; a prehistoric 
tribe which seemed to exist before time 



8 Che-Le- Co- The, 



was ; a nation, whose seat of empire was 
undoubtedly on the very spot upon which 
was founded our town, and in the valley 
around ; for ** nowhere else do memorial 
mounds exist in such numbers — nowhere 
else do so many defensive works appear, 
or such a number and variety of sacred 
enclosures." And as we listen we might 
detect a note — a plash as of softly falling 
tears — narrating their reluctance to make 
their home, the river, the war-way down 
which silently floated the braves of certain 
aboriginal tribes stealthily to strike cer- 
tain other tribes, their Implacable foes of 
ages agone. And the plaintive note be- 
comes a dirge, as the story tells how, later 
on, these fierce red men brought terror 
and desolation to the new homes in the 
wilderness, of their pale-faced brothers, 
who were so daring as to invade and strive 
to wrest from them their cherished hunt- 
ing grounds. 

From the top of the old chief, Mount 
Logan, a century ago, the view must have 



Glimpses of Yesterday, 9 

been mafrnlficcnt. Even with the forests 
primeval on all sides, from that coigne of 
vantage, so far above the giant trees of 
the slopes and valley, whose long arms 
lovingly overlapped, perhaps with an in- 
stinctive last embrace prophetic of coming 
destruction, the hills to the west stood out 
against the clear sky crowned with their 
sister forests, or bare and storm-beaten, 
while gleams of light revealed the streams 
tumbling down the sides to swell the wa- 
ters of Paint Creek and its numerous forks, 
which form so perfect a network in Na- 
ture's inimitable drainage system. 

And in winter, how rare a sight when 
blanketed with snow, and how perfect the 
stillness ! The axe-blows ringing on the 
clear, cold air, and the smoke-wreaths 
from scattered cabins, lazily circling to the 
sky, only served to accentuate the impres- 
sion of intense solitude. Mayhap, a dan- 
gerous solitude, to be broken suddenly by 
cry of ravening wolf or more dreaded yell 
of savage. 



I o Cke-Le- Co- The. 



But it was reserved for the autumn to 
show what wealth of glory and color could 
do for the favored little settlement below. 
From Rattlesnake Knob far away to the 
southeast, sweeping clear around to the 
north, the yellowing leaves of oak and 
beech, of chestnut and buckeye poured 
floods of sunshine, which mingled with the 
scarlet and varying shades of green, en- 
veloped the hamlet and the entire land- 
scape in one vast enflamed sea. And the 
heritage has come down to us intact. For 
although the mellowing touch of time and 
progress has changed the landscape, and 
fields of golden grain wave over the graves 
of forest monarchs long departed, still, 
standing upon the brow of '' Oak Hill," 
the steep sides of the creek rise before 
you, forest clad as of old, making the 
autumnal air softly luminous with the 
garnered glory of a century. And way 
across the valley, from the point at lovely 
Buena Vista, there is ever before us the 
magic picture with its high-lights of sun- 



Glimpses of Yestc^^day. 1 1 

bathed meadows, its restful shadows of 
grove and woodland, the line of hills far 
to the west melting away in misty, roseate 
veil, yet gently suggesting other, and still 
other blue hills far, and still farther away, 
where '' horns of elfland are faintly blow- 
ing." And through it all the lake-like 
stream laps along, defined here by the 
lighter green of the willows, there by the 
archer's bow of sparkling water, reflecting 
bird and flower and sky, and, radiant in 
the midst of the witching vale, rests the 
Pioneer Queen of the Scioto Valley. 

Thus through all these changing sea- 
sons, the bonnie lass gathered health, and 
strength, and grace, as needs she must 
amid such surroundings, and now she has 
rounded out into the full glory of woman- 
hood. Lightly her hundred years sit upon 
her. '' Slow " and '' unprogressive " have 
been the epithets hurled at her by more 
pushing sister cities as they scurried by. 
But serene and undisturbed is she, remem- 
bering her children of glorious manhood 



1 2 Che-Le- Co- The. 



in every walk of life and in almost every 
clime — the statesmen she has nourished 
for national fame, the noble sons she has 
reared and sent forth to fight, and die if 
need be, for what their fathers had fought 
before them, their country and their God — 
and the beloved daughters, who have 
grown up around her firesides, distin- 
guished in beauty, culture, refinement, 
and all the graces of true gentlewoman- 
liness. So cheerily she works by day, and 
sweetly she sleeps when day is done. The 
western hills beam softly on her tranquil 
slumber, and old Mount Logan stands 
ever on guard to protect her from treach- 
erous friend or secret foe during all the 
shadow of the night. 





GENERAL NATHANIEL MASSIE, 




GENERAL NATHANIEL MASSIE. 

AMONG the English families that 
furnished Virginia with colonists, 
were the Massies of Chestershire. About 
1690, three brothers of that name came 
from the Mersey to the James, and settled 
in New Kent County, where they had 
grants of land. In 1760, Nathaniel 
Massie, Sr., married Elizabeth Watkins, 
and moved to Goochland County, near 
Richmond, where on December 28, 1763, 
the subject of this sketch was born and 
was named Nathaniel in honor of his 
father. The boy was given a good edu- 
cation, and began his career, when only 
seventeen, by entering the Revolutionary 
Army, in which his father was an officer. 
At the close of the war he studied sur- 
13 



1 4 Che-L c- Co- The, 



veying, and in i ^^2, went to Kentucky to 
practise his profession. The whole coun- 
try west of the Alleghanies was then a 
wilderness Infested by hostile savages ; 
and whoever ventured within its bounds 
was sure to encounter many hardships and 
dangers, no less than fifteen hundred per- 
sons being killed by the Indians in Ken- 
tucky during the seven years between 
1783 and 1790. This pioneer life was a 
severe training ; but it developed the 
strength and self-reliance of those who 
survived Its perils. 

The calling of a surveyor was especially 
exposed to risks and privations, as his 
work was done in the woods away from 
all protection and supplies. Young Mas- 
sie speedily acquired a splendid reputation 
both for his skill in his profession, and for 
his courage and patience as a backwoods- 
man. He soon began to accumulate 
property by dealing In lands and by vari- 
ous commercial speculations, chiefly in 
salt and in furs, at that time the most 



Glimpses of Yesterday. 15 

valuable articles in western trade. By 
1790, Nathaniel Massie had become a 
man of means and a natural leader among 
the Kentucky pioneers, in every way 
qualified for the undertaking, full of hazard 
and danger, which now presented itself. 
When Virginia ceded to the United States 
her claims to the territory northwest the 
Ohio River, she reserved the lands lying 
between the Scioto and Little Miami 
Rivers, for the purpose of paying her 
Revolutionary veterans. As she had lands 
in Kentucky set apart for the same pur- 
pose, which were first to be exhausted, 
the district reserved in Ohio- was not 
thrown open to the holders of warrants 
until 1790. This accounts for the settle- 
ments therein being of a little later date 
than those of the Ohio Company at 
Marietta, and of John Cleves Symmes at 
Cincinnati. 

Several years before the district was 
formally opened, surveyors from Ken- 
tucky had, amid great hardships and 



1 6 Che-Le- Co- The. 



dangers, explored the Scioto Valley and 
begun the location of lands. First among 
these was Nathaniel Massie, who in 1791, 
in order to have a base for his operations 
north of the Ohio, founded the town of 
Manchester, in what is now Adams 
County. This was the first settlement in 
the Virginia Military District, and is the 
fourth oldest place in Ohio. It is gener- 
ally admitted to have occupied the most 
dangerous position of them all, for it was 
in the centre of a region inhabited by hos- 
tile Indians, and unprotected by any fort 
or regular troops. Marietta was built 
under the shadow of Fort Harmar and 
Cincinnati had the garrison at Fort Wash- 
ingrton to watch over her beofinnines. 
Manchester had no protectors save the 
few hardy backwoodsmen, who, leaving 
their Kentucky cabins, and relying solely 
on themselves, their axes, and rifles, 
pitched their camp on the bank of the 
Ohio and began the erection of their 
stockaded town. 



Glimpses of Yesterday, 1 7 

In McDonald's sketches and in similar 
works, many exciting narratives of the 
adventures of these pioneers can be read. 
During the next five years, Massie made 
many surveys in the Virginia Military 
District, fighting Indians, and enduring 
constant exposure and often hunger, but 
receiving handsome compensation, chiefly 
in land. 

In 1795, Massie decided to found a 
town on the Scioto near the mouth of 
Paint Creek, and he organized a company 
at Manchester for that purpose. This 
company set out in the Spring, but en- 
countered a war party of the Shawnees at 
Reeves's Crossing of Paint Creek, and 
after a sharp battle with the Indians, fell 
back on Manchester to await a more 
favorable opportunity. This was the last 
Indian fight in our State, for Wayne's 
treaty at Greenville, In June of the same 
year, brought permanent peace to the 
settlers in what is now Ohio. 

Early in 1796, Massie again started 



1 8 Che-Le- Co- The, 



from Manchester for the Scioto, leading 
part of his forces overland and sending 
the rest in pirogues up the Ohio and 
Scioto Rivers. These parties met on the 
banks of the Scioto near the mouth of 
Paint Creek, and, on April i, 1796, landed 
their goods and began to build their cabins 
at a place called Station Prairie — some- 
what southeast of the site of the present 
Greenlawn Cemetery. The proposed town 
was at once laid out, and in the following 
July lots were assigned, Massie giving to 
each of the first one hundred settlers an 
in lot and an out lot. After consultation 
with his friends, Massie gave the settle- 
ment the name of Chillicothe, which is 
the Indian word meaning a town. We 
are told that '' It increased rapidly, and 
before the winter had several stores, tav- 
erns, and shops for mechanics." This 
was made possible by the great inrush of 
settlers, which followed the termination of 
the Indian wars. 

Chillicothe having been founded by 



Glimpses of Yesterday. 19 

Virginians naturally attracted most of the 
emigrants from that State. These were 
of various kinds, from the ordinary back- 
woodsmen to college graduates ; but all 
Intent, in their own way, on improving 
their fortunes. Many brought letters of 
introduction to Massle, asking his favor 
in general, and usually his assistance In 
buying land, or his advice as to choice of 
location or business ventures. Massle 
must have been glad to receive these set- 
tlers, for his whole policy was to build 
up his community ; and with this end in 
view, he sold his lands at exceedingly low 
prices, and in any quantity from a few 
acres up, taking as pay either cash or 
promises. He adopted the same course 
in all undertakings which might be of 
benefit to the public, lending to them his 
name and credit. Thus Chillicothe soon 
became one of the largest and busiest 
towns In the whole Northwest Territory, 
and then began to exert her influence on 
shaping the destinies of our State. 



2 o Che-Le- Co- The, 



The government provided for the 
Northwest Territory by the ordinance 
of 1787, was, that same year, committed 
by Congress to Arthur St. Clair as Gov- 
ernor, three judges and a secretary being 
associated with him. St. Clair was Presi- 
dent of Congress at the time of the adop- 
tion of the ordinance, had served as a 
Major-General during the Revolution, and 
was a warm personal friend of General 
Washington. The first eight years of his 
administration were mostly taken up with 
the continuous Indian wars, which har- 
assed the country on both sides of the 
Ohio. General St. Clair's chief distinc- 
tion during this period, was his crushing 
defeat by the Indians under Little Turtle, 
in November, 1791, when he lost about 
half of his army and all of its equipment. 
Wayne's victory over the Indians at 
Fallen Timbers, in 1 794, brought security 
to the Territory and a flood of immigra- 
tion, so that a census, taken in 1798, 
showed that there were within its bounds 



Glimpses of Yesterday. 21 

5000 free, white male Inhabitants. Ac- 
cording to the terms of the ordinance of 
1787, this entitled the territory to elect 
a legislature of its own. Accordingly 
the people selected their ablest men 
as representatives. Among them were 
Nathaniel Massie, Edward Tiffin, and 
Thomas Worthington. 

The Assembly met at Cincinnati in the 
fall of 1799. Everything went harmo- 
niously and without regard to politics, until 
the close of the session, when St. Clair 
disturbed this primitive simplicity by the 
vigorous use of his veto. Most of the 
acts which were thus rejected, were those 
creating new counties and fixing the seats 
of justice therein, St. Clair claiming this 
as his prerogative. His action naturally 
caused a great deal of feeling, especially 
among those who were largely interested 
in lands, — Nathaniel Massie being the 
chief opponent of the claim advanced by 
the Governor. These bills were probably 
of small consequence in themselves, but 



2 2 Che-L e- Co- The, 



they contained the beginnings of politics 
in Ohio, for beneath this Httle controversy, 
lay a great question : Should the people 
decide for themselves what was best for 
them, or should a Governor, deriving his 
authority from without the territory ; 
should the government be paternal, aris- 
tocratic, or democratic ? 

Governor St. Clair, who was by training 
and association a strong Federalist, be- 
lieved the people to be but ill-qualified to 
decide such questions for themselves ; and 
that a wise and good man, provided like 
himself with some far-away superior 
power, was much better fitted to be en- 
trusted with all such matters. Nathaniel 
Massie and his followers were sure that 
they knew their own best interests, and 
did not propose to be governed by any 
one except themselves ; nor did they have 
much reason for respecting the distant 
Federal Government, which heretofore had 
furnished them scant protection from the 
Indians, and which still suffered the Eng- 



Glimpses of Yesterday, 23 

lish along the Great Lakes, and theSpanish 
in Louisiana, to menace their poHtical and 
commercial freedom. The two parties 
thus created at once began hostiHties. St. 
Clair's plan was to divide the territory 
into three parts, bounding the eastern 
division on the west by Eagle Creek, thus 
making it a sure Federalist territory, and 
keeping all the divisions " in the colonial 
state for a good many years to come." 
The opponents of the Governor — now 
generally called the Chillicothe or Vir- 
ginia party — led by Nathaniel Massie, 
Edward Tiffin, Thomas Worthington, and 
Michael Baldwin, set to work to secure 
such a division as would insure the speedy 
admission of the eastern portion into the 
Union and make Chillicothe its capital. 
The Territory was represented in Con- 
gress by William Henry Harrison, who 
naturally sided with his fellow Virginians, 
and who, in 1800, secured the passage of 
an act dividing it into two parts by the 
Greenville Treaty line from the Ohio to 



2 4 Che-L e- Co- The, 



Fort Recovery, thence due north to Can- 
ada. The eastern division continued to 
be called the Northwest Territory, and 
Chillicothe was made its capital ; the 
western division was named Indiana Ter- 
ritory, and Vincennes was made its capi- 
tal. St. Clair remained as Governor of 
the former ; Harrison became Governor 
of the latter. This was a great victory 
for Chillicothe ; five years after its incep- 
tion, it had become the capital of the 
Territory Northwest of the River Ohio. 

The next session of the legislature wit- 
nessed a renewal of the conflict, St. Clair 
asserting his supposed rights more arbi- 
trarily than ever, his opponents insisting 
just as vigorously on theirs. Finally the 
Governor summarily dismissed the legis- 
lature, alleging that his term was about to 
expire, and that no provision existed for 
any one to take his place. This move 
was a mere political trick, and a positive 
injury to pressing public interests. Both 
sides began an active campaign for the 



Glimpses of Yesterday. 25 

next legislature ; the Chillicotheans by 
agitating for statehood, the Governor's 
friends by scheming for another division 
of the Territory. This time the Scioto 
was to be the western boundary. 

Notwithstanding the re-election of Mas- 
sie, Tiffin, and others of their kind, the 
election resulted rather favorably to St. 
Clair, whom John Adams had reappointed 
Governor. Soon afterwards Thomas Jef- 
ferson became President, and the Federal- 
ists lost control of Congress. Now it 
would seem that the merest political tyro 
would have known enough under these 
circumstances, to let the Chillicothe minor- 
ity rest in peace ; but St. Clair and his 
followers seemed bent on self-destruction, 
for when the Assembly met in November, 1 
1801, they renewed the battle by passing' 
bills declaring the assent of the Territory 
to a change in the boundaries of the States 
to be framed under the ordinance of i 'j'^'j, 
and removing the capital from Chillicothe 
to Cincinnati. The Governor approved 



2 6 Che-L e- Co- The. 



both these acts, which were aimed as death- 
blows at Chillicothe and her founders. 
The Virginia party at once sent Worth- 
ington and Baldwin to Philadelphia, where 
Congress then sat, to oppose the proposed 
change of boundaries, a measure which 
Paul Fearing of Marietta, the representa- 
tive of the Territory in Congress, was 
pressing. 

The Chillicotheans were successful in 
their mission. Eighty-one Congressmen 
voted against the change ; only five for it. 
The Virginia party, however, were not 
satisfied with this negative victory, but 
determined to secure St. Clair's removal 
and their immediate admission to the 
Union. Massie preferred charges against 
the Governor, and Congress was urged to 
pass an act to enable the citizens of the 
Northwest Territory to form a State 
government and to enter the Union. 

On April 30, 1802, Congress authorized 
a convention of delegates to be elected in 
September for the purpose of determin- 



Glimpses of Yesterday. 27 

ing, first, whether it was expedient to 
estabhsh a State government ; If so de- 
cided by a majority of the delegates, they 
were empowered to proceed to adopt a con- 
stitution and to form a State government. 
The contest over the election of delegates 
was vigorous and bitter ; Massie and his 
friends were elected to represent Ross 
County. When the convention met at 
Chillicothe, In November, 1802, and voted 
on the expediency of statehood, thirty-four 
voted yes, only one voted no. This was 
an overwhelming victory for the Virgini- 
ans, and the end of St. Clair, who, In a 
speech delivered before the convention, 
spoke so intemperately of the project that 
President Jefferson was at last obliged to 
remove him from office. 

The constitution which was adopted 
was framed wholly in accordance with the 
ideas of the Chillicothe leaders ; the 
Governor was made a mere figure-head, 
being given no control whatever over the 
legislature, by the right of vetoing its acts 



28 Che-Le-Co- The. 



or otherwise ; the power of the legislature 
was bounded only by the constitution 
itself. This instrument has been severely 
criticised by many historians and legal 
writers. While it may have minor faults, 
it has one crowning glory. 

The history of the Anglo Saxon race in 
its broadest sense is a record of the strug- 
gles of the people to assert themselves 
against their rulers. The great trophies 
in this contest are the Magna Charta ; 
the Bill of Rights of 1689, won by our 
ancestors in the old home across the sea ; 
and the Declaration of Independence, 
made good by our Revolutionary fore- 
fathers in America. Each of these 
trophies marks a long step forward toward 
a government of the people, by the people, 
for the people, but none go quite so far as 
to give the people absolute power, freed 
from all control of King, President, or 
Governor. 

The first to reach that goal, were the foun- 
ders of Ohio, led by the Chillicothe states- 



Glimpses of Yesterday, 29 

men, who had been trained, In their back- 
woods struggles with savage men and 
rugged nature, to rely on themselves 
alone, and to allow no man to dictate 
what was best for them and theirs. But 
these men were not primitive anarchists ; 
they made rules to govern themselves, and 
selected men from among themselves to 
administer their laws. In the organiza- 
tion of the new State government, the 
Chlllicotheans were especially promi- 
nent ; Edward Tiffin was elected Governor, 
Thomas Worthlngton, one of the United 
States Senators, Charles Willing Byrd 
became the United States District Judge. 
Nathaniel Massle, President of the State 
Senate, and Michael Baldwin, Speaker of 
the House of Representatives. 

The State itself was thoroughly Repub- 
lican, as distinguished from Federalist ; 
and next year gave her electoral votes to 
Thomas Jefferson, who, of all American 
Statesmen, most thoroughly appreciated 
the needs and possibilities of the West. 



30 Che-Le-Co'The, 



This ascendency, gained at the beginning, 
continued for many years under the origi- 
nal leaders and their younger followers, 
among whom we may mention Duncan 
McArthur, William Creighton, and Wil- 
liam Allen. There is not space to enu- 
merate all that these men did toward 
shaping the destiny of Ohio ; it is enough 
to say that they helped to make her a 
great State, and secured for her a liberal, 
popular government. Time has justified 
their course, and future generations will 
bless their courage and wisdom. 

Nathaniel Massie having thus secured 
the recognition of his political principles, 
turned his attention to his own affairs. 
He had but recently married Susan 
Meade, a daughter of Colonel David 
Meade of Kentucky, whose magnificent 
estate " Chaumiere," near Lexington, was 
famous throughout the Southwest for its 
social splendor and hospitality. For her 
he built his house at the Falls of Paint 
Creek, near Bainbridge, and there they 



Glimpses of Yesterday, 3 1 

lived during the remainder of his life. 
Most of his time was occupied with his 
varied business interests, but he occasion- 
ally left these for public duties, serving in 
the legislature several terms, and in both 
1804 and 1808, he was one of the Presi- 
dential Electors selected in Ohio, voting 
for Jefferson and Madison respectively. 
In 1807, he was a candidate for Governor, 
but was defeated by Return Jonathan 
Meigs, whose election Massie contested 
on the ground " that Meigs had not been 
a resident of this State for four years next 
preceding the election, as required by the 
Constitution " ; the General Assembly in 
joint convention, decided that Meigs was 
not eligible. *' Massie," says McDonald, 
*' did not claim the office, being of too 
magnamimous a nature to accept any 
offering that was not of the free will " ; 
so Thomas Kirker, President of the 
Senate, became Governor. 

For many years Nathaniel Massie was 
a Major-General of the Ohio Militia ; and 



3 2 Che-L e- Co- The, 



the last act of his public life was to raise 
a force of five hundred men for the relief 
of General Harrison and his army at Fort 
Meigs, in the spring of 1813. 

General Massie died November 3, 18 13, 
leaving besides his widow, three sons and 
two daughters. In June, 1870, the remains 
of General Massie and his wife were re- 
moved from the old family burying ground, 
to the cemetery at Chillicothe, where they 
now rest under a granite monument erected 
by his descendants, and which overlooks 
for miles the beautiful valley into which he 
first brought civilization. 



EDWARD TIFFIN. 

IN 1797, a little band of pioneers, 
devoted to antislavery ideas, and 
anxious to escape the demoralizing effects, 
and the sin of that institution, left their 
homes In Berkeley County, Virginia, and, 
having loaded their household goods into 
wagons, and travelling themselves in their 
family carriages, set forth on a toilsome 
journey of more than two weeks over the 
Alleghanies, enthused with the prospect 
of a new life on free soil in the great 
Northwest Territory. Among them was 
Dr. Edward Tiffin (who was born in Car- 
lisle, England, June 19, 1766), his wife, 
Mary Worthington, his father and mother, 
and brother Joseph, his brother-in-law, 
Thomas Worthington, and others. 
33 



34 Che-Le-Co-The, 



Edward Tiffin came to this country 
with his fathers family, when eighteen 
years of age. He proceeded at once to 
Philadelphia, where he completed his 
medical studies, which had been begun in 
England. He then rejoined his father, 
who had settled in Charlestown, Va., and 
began the practice of his profession when 
but twenty years of age. Three years 
later, being established in a lucrative 
practice, he married ; he was always 
spoken of as "■ a favorite in the gay and 
fashionable circles of old Berkeley." 

The guiding motive in the minds of 
Dr. Tiffin and his '* conscientious and 
heavenly-minded " wife, when they aban- 
doned associations so congenial to their 
tastes, and turned to the wilderness of the 
West, could only have been one of high 
principle. Dr. Tiffin was the bearer of a 
letter of introduction from General Wash- 
ington to Governor St. Clair, recommend- 
ing him to an appointment in the North- 
west Territory. In this letter the General 



Glimpses of Yesterday, 35 

testifies to '' the fairness of his character 
in private and public Hfe, from a knowl- 
edge of the gentleman's merits, founded 
upon a long acquaintance." 

Can we not imagine that these culti- 
vated people, with enthusiasm enough to 
bring them as pioneers into an altogether 
uncivilized country, would be affected by 
their first sight of the Scioto Valley, then 
in its primeval beauty, much as was Gen- 
eral VVinfield Scott fifty years later, when 
in a speech in Chillicothe, he likened it to 
the '' happy valley of Rasselas " ? Besides 
household effects, there were packed into 
these wagons which labored into the strag- 
gling town of Chillicothe, young trees, 
shrubs, precious roots, bulbs, and vines, 
for the prospective homes in the new 
land, which in time were to " blossom as 
the rose." 

Among the early homes of Chillicothe, 
was that of Edward Tif^n. As one walks 
along the north side of Water Street to- 
day, between Walnut and High Streets, 



3 6 Che-L e-Co- Th e. 



nothing remains to connect the locaHty 
with that past time, when this whole 
square was redolent with the sweet odors 
from Mrs. Tiffin's garden. In the middle 
of this garden stood the stone dwelling 
erected by Dr. Tiffin, the first house in 
Chillicothe that was roofed with shingles. 

Twelve years passed rapidly, years in 
which Dr. Tiffin was closely identified 
with the growth and prosperity of Chilli- 
cothe. He had gained a high reputation 
as a surgeon and physician, and had begun 
a political career in the territorial legis- 
lature, being chosen Speaker of that body, 
which had witnessed his presidency of 
the constitutional convention, and his 
unanimous election to the first two terms 
of the orubernatorial office of the State of 
Ohio. Later he was elected to the United 
States Senate, his credentials to that body 
being presented by John Adams. 

When thus at the summit of worldly 
prosperity, the death of his wife, with 
whom he had lived so happily for nearly 



Glimpses of Yesterday. ^j 

twenty years, overwhelmed him with grief, 
and caused him to turn from public af- 
fairs ; resigning his seat in the Senate, he 
sought the retirement of his farm in Ohio, 
where, for a time, he devoted himself to 
agriculture. It was not possible, how- 
ever, for him to resist the call of the young 
State which he had adopted as his own, 
or to waste his days in unavailing grief. 
He answered its call to duty, going for 
the third time to the legislature (again 
becoming its Speaker), on its organization 
in January, 1810. It is an evidence of the 
appreciation of his fellow-citizens, that he 
should have been selected to preside over 
every official organization to which he 
was elected within the State. 

In course of time, he brought to the 
home on Water Street, in Chillicothe, a 
fair, devoted bride, twenty years his 
junior. Her name was Mary Porter. She 
was the daughter of a family from Dela- 
ware, who had settled near Chillicothe, 
was of a retiring disposition, delicate in 



3 8 Che-Le- Co- The, 



constitution, of gentle refinement, and 
rare personal beauty. 

Soon after this marriage Governor 
Tiffin was appointed by President Madi- 
son Commissioner of the General Land 
Office. This appointment, wholly unso- 
licited, took him again to Washington. 
But after several years, Mr. Madison 
gratified Governor Tiffin's unconquerable 
longing for his Ohio home by ordering 
an exchange of office, by which he became 
Surveyor-General of the West, with the 
privilege of locating the office in Chilli- 
cothe. From this time the home on 
Water Street was the centre of much 
family happiness and hospitality. The 
home life of this family was governed by 
the simplest and most earnest religious 
spirit. Dr. Tiffin, a man of quick, bril- 
liant parts, enthusiastically devoted to 
science, to affairs of business and of the 
State, was true to these characteristics in 
his religious faith and life. 

After the Revolution a great wave of 



Glimpses of Yesterday, 39 

religious revival swept over Virginia 
under the Methodists. Dr. and Mrs. 
Tiffin were converts of this revival, and 
united with the Methodist church. Dr. 
Tiffin was ordained a lay preacher by 
Bishop Asbury almost immediately after 
his conversion, and upon his removal to 
Ohio he regularly performed ministerial 
duties among the new settlements. His 
catholic sentiments gave him the respect 
of all parties ; as he had been reared in 
the Church of England, when the Epis- 
copal Church In Chillicothe was without 
a rector, he was often called upon to read 
the service and a sermon from some 
established collection. 

Mrs. Tiffin was devotedly fond of flow- 
ers and their cultivation, and her fine 
garden was a feature of the town. In a 
pleasant letter, written by an aged lady 
whose reminiscences come from far-away 
California, are the following words : ** The 
dear, beautiful old home, just one of the 
most lovely places I ever saw, with the 



40 Ch e-L e- Co- The, 



grounds sloping so prettily, with the 
hedge of altheas and lilacs along the ter- 
race, which separated the flower garden 
from the vegetables. Two large cherry 
trees were near the house, and under 
some shade trees, farther down, nearer 
the street, were the two large beds of lily 
of the valley, so sweet that we could 
smell the perfume when the windows were 
open. And then dear Aunt Tiffin let me 
go with her when she went to the low, far 
part of the garden to gather the damson 
plums." 

A hedge of damask and velvet roses 
extended the length of the street fence. 
Along the level top of this fence the Sur- 
veyor-General's daughter remembers see- 
ing the government chains measured and 
rectified. The latticed porch was covered 
with honeysuckle and wild prairie rose, 
and near by was a great flourishing mass 
of sweetbrier, which now refuses to grow 
in cultivated soil, and blooms only in the 
wild regions of its native haunts. Back 



Glimpses of Yesterday, 41 

of the garden, extending far up High 
Street, was the peach orchard. When 
Mrs. Tiffin returned from Washington, 
she was careful to bring with her some 
choice things for her garden. She thus 
introduced into Chillicothe her favorite 
flower, the Hly of the valley, and also the 
moss rose. Exchanges were not only 
carried on between the owners of these 
early gardens, but their treasures were 
freely given to those who asked for them. 
There was an ever-recurring demand, in 
that time of greater simplicity of medical 
treatment, for the root of the ''piny" to 
cure fits ; the leaves of the white lily for 
dressing blisters, and herbs for teas, with 
which to relieve almost every human ill. 
These Mrs. Tiffin gave freely, as did the 
Doctor his medical services to those who 
were unable to pay for them. 

The walls of the house were once in- 
jured by being struck by lightning, and an 
amusing story is told in connection with 
that event. A Methodist preacher was 



42 Chc'Le- Co- Tht 



occupying the guest room (not a rare 
occurrence), and when the lightning ran 
down that corner of the house it exploded 
a loaded gun standing in the corner of the 
room. One can imagine the terrific storm, 
the report of the bursting gun, and the 
blaze of lightning, as being sufficient to 
send the affrighted stranger down-stairs, 
pale and trembling, in the full belief that 
he had heard the crack of doom. 

Governor Tiffin died in 1829, and Mrs. 
Tiffin in 1837. In 1840, two daughters 
of the house remained under its roof, and 
when one was asked in marriage, the 
other, looking into the manly, handsome 
face of her sister's suitor, gave her con- 
sent in these trusting words : '' Yes, if you 
take me too." Together they went into 
a new home, and the old one passed into 
the hands of strangers. In a few years 
more both house and garden yielded to 
encroaching population and modern de- 
mands. 



44 Che-L e- Co- The, 



were very considerable. Too infirm to 
locate the lands himself, and his only son 
having been killed at St. Clair's defeat, he 
desired his ward, young Mr. Worthington, 
to attend to this business for him. After 
a perilous journey through flood and 
wilderness, this intrepid band, in 1796, 
reached the rude hamlet consisting of a 
few huts without windows and deficient 
in doors, which had been named by the 
peaceable Indians, and a few whites, 
"Chillicothe." 

After locating the warrants of General 
Darke on the plateau west of the town he 
returned to Virginia. In 1797, he mar- 
ried the wealthy and beautiful Eleanor 
Van Swearengen. The same year he re- 
visited the hamlet of Chillicothe, and 
found it vastly enlarged and properly laid 
out, by order of the distinguished officer. 
General Nathaniel Massie, and in his 
honor, called '* Massieville." 

Early in 1798, Mr. Worthington came 
to Chillicothe with wife and infant daugh- 



Glimpses of Yesterday, 45 



ter, his sister Mary, and her husband 
Edward Tiffin, a young EngHshman of 
high birth, refinement, and ability, — 
afterwards the first Governor of Ohio, — 
two young brothers of his wife, and others, 
with a Httle army of negroes who had been 
freed by my grandfather, but who were 
brougfht as servants to his new home. 
The luggage accompanying this caval- 
cade consisted partly of the pier glasses, 
carpets, china, silver, and furniture that 
afterwards adorned '' Adena." 

The first home of the Worthington's in 
Chillicothe was between Paint and Wal- 
nut Streets, but they soon went to the 
Adena property, and lived for several 
years in a rude but comfortable log cabin, 
until their permanent home was built. 

II. 

ADENA. 

In 1805, the gray mansion on the hill 
was completed, and, at that time, it was 



46 CJie-L e- Co- The, 



considered a wonderfully grand place. 
Even now, few houses are so well con- 
structed, or so commodious. The square 
building with wings on either side, in 
Italian villa style, beautifully crowns the 
eminence on which it is situated. About 
the same time, the fine old mansion of 
Governor McArthur was constructed, on 
the same level, some quarter of a mile 
distant. In olden time, the approach to 
Adena was far more picturesque than 
the present one. Driving along the 
brow of the hill, ascending gradually one 
plateau, after the other, — glimpses were 
caught through the wooded hill-sides of 
lovely panoramic views of river, plain, 
mountain, and valley beneath, — so beauti- 
ful, that Tom jNIarshall, Kentucky's bril- 
liantly gifted son, rapturously exclaimed : 
** Had Tom Moore seen this valley, he 
would have sung of the vale of Scioto, not 
Avoca^ 



Glimpses of Yesterday, 47 

III. 

ADENA, 1 805-1 82 7. 

" To this home they came, the Mecca of 
the West." Chlllicothe was then the 
"Athens of the West," and Adena the 
" Mecca " of all distinguished people 
travelling through the western country, 
many of whom brought letters to my dis- 
tinguished grandfather. Bernhard, Duke 
of Saxe- Weimar Eisenbach, was enter- 
tained during his short stay, at Adena, 
and was charmed with host and hostess, 
and the lovely daughters ; the beautiful 
home, as well as Chillicothe with its hills, 
the bright streams of Scioto and Paint, 
the long, quaint, picturesque covered 
bridge spanning the Scioto, and the mea- 
dows beneath, made a scene of beauty 
that deeply impressed this genial noble- 
man. After returning to his home across 
the ocean, and meeting my young uncle, 
James Worthington (then travelling 
abroad), he welcomed him as a brother. 



48 CJie-L e- Co- The, 



exclaiming : *' I have seen the beautiful 
Chillicothe, and the dear, dear home, and 
the Father and Mother." The grand 
scale of the preparations to entertain 
these princely guests, the viands, the 
wines, the beautiful flowers, the servants 
in livery and white kid gloves, who were 
in attendance, — all this described to me 
as a child by my grandmother, made, to 
my young mind, an Arabian Night's 
tale of magnificence and grandeur. 

Some of the visitors who came yearly 
to Adena for a period, and who were 
cherished friends and guests, were Mr. 
and Mrs. Henry Clay, Mrs. Pope, sister 
of John Quincy Adams ; Judge and Mrs. 
Todd (the sister of " pretty Dolly Madi- 
son ") ; and Mrs. Breckinridge and her 
daughter, Mrs. Grayson, afterwards wife 
of Peter Porter of Black Rock, near 
Niagara. At the charming home of the 
latter, my lovely mother, as Eleanor 
Worthington, a school girl, spent her 
vacations from Madam Willard's distin- 



Glimpses of Yesterday, 49 

guished seminary, and I, also, twenty 
years afterwards, there visited my father's 
friend. Col. Lewis F. Allen, whose wife 
was the aunt and guardian of President 
Grover Cleveland. 

J. C. Breckinridge, when bringing home 
to Kentucky his fair bride, the daughter 
of President Smith of Princeton, N. J., 
spent some days at Adena. They were 
the parents of John C. Breckinridge, who 
was Vice-President of the United States 
previous to the War, but at its outbreak 
he joined the Southern Confederacy, and 
became an exile from his native country 
when that fatal war was ended. 

In the course of time there came to 
Adena Lewis F. Cass, Governor DeWitt 
Clinton, Rufus King of New York, Gen- 
eral Macomb, and United States President 
Monroe, whose '* Doctrine" is at present 
stirring up the nations of the world. The 
quaint mahogany bedstead in which this 
distinguished guest slept, with its slender 
posts, and purple velvet canopy, is now a 



50 Che-Le- Co- The, 



cherished heirloom In my beautiful home 
at Mac-a-cheek. President Monroe called 
my grandfather the '' Master spirit of the 
age." 

It is a matter worthy of note that the 
Indian Chief, Tecumseh, was for some 
time the guest of Governor Worthlngton ; 
and one of the great curiosities to be 
found at this day In the drawing-room 
of Adena, Is Tecumseh's tomahawk, pre- 
sented to Governor Worthlngton on the 
occasion of this visit. 



IV. 

HIS DEATH, 1 826-1 827. 

Thomas Worthlngton died In New 
York City, with none of his immediate 
family near, save Thomas, his second son, 
then a cadet at West Point. He was 
young to have accomplished so much, and 
to have undergone many trying ordeals, 
as patriot, pioneer, and statesman. 



Glimpses of Yesterday, 5 1 

Thomas Jefferson, In a letter to the 
Governor, calls him " The truest, bravest 
patriot, since the days of old Rome." 

Martin Van Buren spoke of him as 
"Thomas Worthlngton, the Illustrious 
founder of the Commonwealth of Ohio." 

In an oration, Salmon P. Chase said : 
"He was the father of internal Improve- 
ments, of the Great National Road, and 
of the Erie Canal." 

In 1826, Rufus King, the eminent states- 
man, had just returned from his second 
embassy to the Court of St. James, and 
lay dying in his home In New York City. 
Governor Worthlngton was also very 111 
at his hotel In the same city, but their 
conditions were unknown to each other. 
Mr. King, calling to his bedside his 
favorite daughter-in-law, Sarah Worthlng- 
ton, wife of his son Edward, said : " I 
wish to send a message to your honored 
father, before he leaves us. Say to him, 
I love and esteem him as ever. I can 
never forget the noble sacrifices of his 



CIiC'Le-Co' TIu\ 



patriotism. No other man could do what 
he has done for Ohio." 

A little research in the archives will 
show his good works, and the great seal 
of the State of Ohio, in constant use, 
evinces the master-mind who desio^ned it 



I well remember Adena, the home of 
my widowed orandmother, as it was fifty 
years ago. It \\'as then, externally, in its 
prime. The tine orchards lying in the 
rear, and on two sides of the mansion — 
the terraced gardens reaching to the grove, 
the pleasure grounds, — all so well kept 
Never were there such peaches, apricots, 
nectarines, cherries, plums, and apples ! 
And the lovely Bowers that grew so luxu- 
rianth' in those terraced orardens ! I re- 
member as a lonely, romantic child, how 
often I would go up and down the many 
flights of stone steps leading to those 
terraces of bloom and beautv. The trim 



Glimpses of Ycsicrday. 53 

green hedges, tall willow trees, and Lom- 
bardy poplars have perished ; the orchards 
have gone to decay ! The house itself is 
little changed externally, and the interior 
has been well preserved by Mrs. Martha 
Worthington, widow of General Worth- 
ington, and sister of General A. S. Piatt 
and the late Don Piatt. Though not to 
the " manor born," she idolizes and fondly 
cares for the old mansion on the hill. 



Eleanor Van Swearengen, Wife and 
Widow of Thomas Worthington. 

1827-1848. 

" An old age serene and bright, 
And lovely as a Lapland night." 

— Wordsworth. 

Chillicothe has reason to bless the name 
of Eleanor Worthinofton, — one of the 
founders of the Presbyterian Church, and 
one of its liberal supporters for many 
years. At her death, she bequeathed the 



5 4 Che-Le- Co- The, 



church the property on Fourth Street for 
a parsonage. Her excellent administra- 
tion of the vast estates of her husband 
that seemed hopelessly involved, gave each 
of her ten children a handsome compe- 
tence. 

" A voice speaks to my heart to-night of long for- 
gotten years." 

The greatest enjoyment of my child- 
hood was staying "all night at Grand- 
mother's," and sleeping in a little cot 
beside her bed — an honor accorded none 
but ** little Eleanor, my namesake." How 
often, lying awake, I watched with loving, 
but curious eyes, the dear old grand- 
mother as she sat before the bright open 
wood fire, with the polished brass and- 
irons reflecting many a glint of firelight. 
She would sit on a low chair, a la Betsy 
Trotwood, with her skirts turned over her 
knees, smoking, as a fancied relief from 
asthma, a horrid mixture that made me 
weep, and made the dear grandmother 



Glhnpses of Yesterday, 55 

cough and choke. How many hours it 
seemed to me, while lying in my little 
bed, that she sat there silent, almost mo- 
tionless, — her thoughts far away on the 
loved ones out in the world — still in the 
battle of life ! Or, more often, thinking of 
those whose voices would never again 
thrill her heart with their loved tones. 
How beautiful she was at seventy ! 
Though the bloom of youth had faded 
from her pale cheeks, and the features 
had lost their sculptural lines, yet the 
bands of white hair shaded the loveliest 
gray eyes, so bright ! The mouth was 
sweet, but firm. Upon her pale face 
rested an expression of sorrow, denoting 
trials met and surmounted. 

Still more vivid in my recollection are 
the accounts she gave me of the past 
glories of Adena, as the elegant style of 
my grandfather's regime was of course 
abandoned at his decease. I was a good 
listener, and was what is called now, sym." 
pathetic. 



5 6 Che-Le- Co- The, 



One night when December's snow was 
lying soft and thick around the dear old 
home, and the winds were whispering at 
every keyhole and rattling every window 
and sash, I lay restless and wakeful. At 
last dear grandmother said : *' Get up 
child, and come to me. You are wakeful, 
and I will tell you another story of the 
past. Once, long ago, when your mamma 
was a little child, like you, and your dear 
grandfather was far away attending to his 
country's affairs, a gentleman who was 
high in authority came to Adena uninvited 
and unexpected. His name is nothing to 
you now. Hereafter you will hear him 
spoken of as one hated by many, con- 
demned by a few, and warmly loved by 
those most Intimate with him — Aaron 
Burr of New York, — a great man, but 
even then, they said his mind was full of 
schemes to destroy our fair Republic. If 
so, he failed. Misfortune attended him. 
Death took his only child, all that he 
loved. In darkness, poverty, and shame, 



Glimpses of Yesterday, 57 

his career closed. But good or bad, what- 
ever were his motives in coming to Adena, 
I cannot tell. My husband was absent, 
and knew naught of his schemes nor of 
the visit till long afterwards ; but this I 
can say, he was the gentlest, most polished 
man I every saw, and so fond of flowers. 
To his kindness I am indebted for the 
moss-roses, the yellow jessamine, and 
sweet honeysuckle you are so fond of 
gathering." 

VI. 
CLOSING SCENES. 

One very unhealthy summer, when I 
was but eight years old, I was ailing. 
My grandmother also needed rest and 
change. In her own carriage, driven by 
William Glassingale (a negro well re- 
membered in Chillicothe thirty years ago), 
we went to the far-famed White Sulphur 
Springs, Greenbrier Co., Virginia. 

One evening after our arrival, as we 



5 8 Che-Le- Co- The, 



were sitting on the porch of our little 
cottage, the great Henry Clay and his 
wife called upon my grandmother. Taking 
me on his knee, he made me very vain by 
saying : " This fair child will soon recover 
in this health-giving region. Such a 
pretty little girl ought to be a well little 
girl." Smoothing my tangled curls and 
kissing my brow, he held me for a moment, 
till I thoughtfully slipped down and away. 
My grandmother s homily on this occa- 
sion, was so true of her ideas and peculiar 
thoughts, that I repeat them here. '' Yes, 
Eleanor is a fair child, and will doubtless 
be a fairer woman. Beauty is a gift from 
God, and one should be careful how 
they use it. With it, half the battle of 
life for a woman is gained ; but the gift 
misused, brings the greatest misery." 

The grand statesman agreed with her, 
but flippantly remarked, '' that an ugly 
woman was a monstrosity as great as a 
double-headed ape." The exclamations of 
his wife and of my grandmother were both 



Glimpses of Yesterday, 59 

loud and vociferous. Childlike I gazed 
upon him and wondered what he could 
possibly think of himself, ugly man as I 
thought him then. 

" I dread no more the wrath of Heaven ; 
I have an angel there." 

"Vain our bitter weeping, her gentle life is o'er." 

My first grief and irreparable loss was 
the death of this precious grandmother. 
She died at a grand old age, seventy-one, 
after many years of good works, loved 
and honored by all. Long years, and 
many, was she mourned by the charming 
coterie of brilliant ladies, who had been 
associated with her in every good act, — 
in church, charity, and society. These 
noble women, so well remembered, have 
all gone to their high reward. Mesdames 
Carlisle, McCoy, Waddle, Walke, Mc- 
Arthur, Carson, Fullerton, and others, all 
shining lights in the history of Chil- 



6o Che'Le-Co- The, 



licothe, they have left their stamp upon 
it. Their memory can never die ! They 
have left descendants, who were, and are, 
in every succeeding generation, the best 
of citizens, foremost in all that has made 
Chillicothe what it is, and so have kept it, 
the most prosperous, the highest toned in 
morals and manners, and the w^ealthiest, 
most beautiful inland town in the West. 

I cannot close this imperfect tribute to 
my grandparents without a word of my 
own life, as a young lady in Chillicothe, 
when its society was of the most brilliant. 
The ladies, married and single, seemed to 
me the highest and best, like beings of a 
better world, and the gentlemen gifted, 
courteous, and gallant ; and life was so 
happy for me, that now, a saddened 
woman, with nearly all the loved links 
broken that held me to the joyous past, I 
turn with streaming eyes to dear Chilli- 
cothe, and bless the noble hearts that 
made my life one dream of delight. When 
I am dying, may its scenes of earthly 



Glimpses of Yesterday, 6 1 

beauty be the last my fading eyes may 
see. 

" The night is gone ; 
And with the morn those angels faces smile 
Which I have loved long since, and lost awhile ; 
Lead Thou me on." 



Governor Worthington left a family of 
sons and daughters, all of whom made an 
impress upon the period in which they 
lived. Mary the oldest daughter, married 
General McComb. 

Sarah Ann, who was widely known and 
beloved for her many acts of charity and 
benevolence, married Edward King, son 
of the Hon. Rufus King of New York. 
She left two sons — Hon. Rufus King of 
Cincinnati, and Thomas King of Colum- 
bus. She was afterwards married to 
William Peter, Esq., of Harlyn, England, 
her Britannic Majesty's Consul at Phila- 
delphia. She became a convert to the 
Roman Catholic faith, and was one of the 



6 2 Che-Le- Co- The, 



most devout adherents to her new reli- 
gious tenets. She was a frequent visitor 
to Europe, was an intimate friend of Pope 
Pius IX., attended the great Ecumenical 
Council at Rome, and it is said the Pope 
frequently alluded to her as " His Little 
Cardinal from America." She died in 
Cincinnati In 1877. 

Eleanor, like her sister, Mrs. Peter, was 
known for her many charities, and will 
long be remembered by the older residents. 
She married Dr. Arthur Watts, a wealthy 
landowner of Chillicothe. Their only 
living child is Eleanor, wife of General 
Saunders H. Piatt of the Mac-a-cheek 
Valley. She will be remembered in her 
younger days, as a belle of Southern Ohio, 
widely known for her beauty and grace of 
manner. Margaret, who for so many 
years, was the only daughter left to aid 
her mother In dispensing the hospitalities 
of Adena, married Professor Mansfield ; 
she Is still held in the most affectionate 
remembrance by all who knew her. 
Elizabeth, the youngest daughter, married 



Glimpses of Yesterday. 63 

Mr. Pomeroy. James Taylor Worthlng- 
ton, the eldest son, at the age of sixteen 
became a cadet at West Point, but after a 
short stay gave way to his brother 
Thomas, who distinguished himself in the 
late Civil War, especially at the Battle of 
Shiloh. William died while still a young 
man. Frank married Jane Tayloe 
Lomax. 

General James T. Worthington was 
an honored citizen of Chillicothe. When 
barely of age, he visited Europe, travelling 
on foot over England, Ireland, and Scot- 
land, and the Continent. His striking 
resemblance to the great Napoleon caused 
incessant remark, and in Paris this was so 
noted that, at times, crowds would follow 
him to the point that became embarrass- 
ing and annoying. He died at Adena, 
the house in which he was born. " I never 
knew a more just man. I never knew one 
whose force of character and infirmities of 
temper, were so under the control of his 
loving heart." He married Julia Gallo- 
way, of Xenia, who died in 1856, leaving a 



64 Che-Le- Co- The, 



family of six children — Mary, James, 
Thomas, Eleanor, Julia, and Richard. 
The last two are still living. 

He afterwards married Martha J. Piatt, 
the present mistress of Adena. She, too, 
comes of a long line of ancestry ; her 
father was Hon. Benjamin Piatt, a distin- 
guished lawyer and judge, and her grand- 
father served on Washington's staff. At 
the age of sixteen, she married the Hon. 
Nathaniel C. Reed, Judge of the Supreme 
Court of the State ; and after his death, 
married James Worthington. It has 
always been her pride and constant effort 
to retain for Adena the prestige of its 
reputation and history. The beautiful 
Lake '' Ellensmere," at the foot of the 
winding hill-road that leads to the mansion, 
was named by General Worthington in 
honor of his mother. For many years to 
come, the old home will be a spot of much 
interest to the general traveller, and to 
lovers of ancient sites and reminiscences, 
and of enduring local pride to Chillicothe. 



DUNCAN McARTHUR. 

AMONG others of that hardy band of 
hunters, surveyors, and settlers, 
who accompanied General Nathaniel 
Massie from their Kentucky homes to the 
Scioto Valley in the Spring of 1 796, for 
the purpose of locating and laying out the 
town of Chillicothe, was Duncan Mc- 
Arthur. He was then a young man 
twenty-four years of age, strong, athletic, 
and accustomed to the most trying priva- 
tions and hardships of an Indian scout 
and hunter, in which dangerous occupa- 
tion he had been engaged for several 
years previous to starting upon this ex- 
pedition. 

Duncan McArthur was born in Dutchess 
County, N. Y., in the year 1776; and 

65 



6 6 Che-Le- Co- The, 



while he was still a child, his family 
moved to Western Pennsylvania. Little 
is it to be wondered, that he soon left 
this unpromising home in the Pennsyl- 
vania mountains, for the rich valleys of 
the Northwest Territory. 

Upon arriving there, he was employed 
by General Massle as an assistant surveyor 
in laying out the town of Chillicothe, and 
in locating surveys in the surrounding 
country ; and as part compensation for a 
year's services, he received his first piece 
of real estate — the foundation of the for- 
tune he afterwards acquired. This land 
was a tract of one hundred and fifty 
acres situated about two miles west of 
the town, and commanding a fine view of 
the beautiful valley and surrounding coun- 
try. Here he erected a log cabin, and 
took up his residence, naming the place 
Fruit Hill, which name it still bears. 
The last memento of this first residence 
of Duncan McArthur, is a large cotton- 
wood tree, which was planted by Mrs. 



Glimpses of Yesterday, 67 

McArthur in her garden, the shoot being 
a riding switch, brought from Kentucky 
by WiUiam McDonald, on one of his visits 
to the McArthurs. To this farm other 
large tracts of land were soon added ; and 
early in the nineteenth century, a large 
stone house was erected, probably the 
first of its size in this part of the country. 
Its three-foot walls still stand as solid as 
the day they were raised, although twice 
have different parts of it been partially 
destroyed by fire. In this house have 
lived, during the last century, five genera- 
tions of the McArthur family. Here 
General McArthur raised a large family, 
and lived the remainder of his life, except 
at times when engaged in military and 
state affairs ; even then, Mrs. McArthur 
and the family remained at home in 
charge of his numerous business affairs, 
she having complete control not only of 
domestic, but also of business matters. 
And from the letters he almost daily 
wrote to her while he was with the army, 



6 8 C/ie-Le- Co- The, 



from Washington while in Congress, and 
while Governor, he seemed to have great 
confidence in her business ability and 
judgment. For in these letters he speaks 
not only of all public events occurring 
around him, but goes into the details of 
their domestic life and business ; and in 
many instances, after advising the renting 
or purchase or sale of a certain farm, or 
the sale of stock and grain, he leaves the 
matter to her best judgment. 

In one of these letters, dated Camp 
Meigs, September 13, 18 12, he quotes 
from a letter to him from General Harri- 
son, saying, '' We have just gained a 
glorious Naval Victory. Perry lies at one 
of the islands with the whole of the British 
Fleet in his possession." 

A number of letters were received from 
him while in Albany attending the court- 
martial of General Hull, in which he 
describes the incidents of the trial ; and 
in some of them, he seems very bitter 
towards Hull ; this is very natural, as he 



Glimpses of Yesterday. 69 

was under Hull's command at the time of 
his surrender, but being out of the town 
with his regiment, did not take part in 
the defence, and returned only in time to 
surrender to the British without having 
fired a gun. On this occasion, it is said, 
that rather than surrender his sword to 
an English officer, he thrust it into the 
ground, and snapped it to pieces. 

In Duncan McArthur we find the 
typical American of his time, a self-made 
man, who had undoubted strength of 
character, who was decided in his opinion, 
shrewd and quick in business, but withal, 
generous and kind at heart. Especially 
do his letters indicate his loyalty to his 
friends, and for his family, the most tender 
solicitude of a kind and indulgent husband 
and father. In the handwriting of these 
many letters, may be traced the progress 
of his life, from the almost illegible hand 
of the young surveyor, to the w^ell-shaded 
and smoothly composed letters of the 
General and the Governor. And again 



70 Che-Le- Co- The. 



may be traced the declining years of his 
life, as his hand grows more and more 
uncertain, until at last he can no longer 
write his own name, and his secretary 
signs for him. 

Fruit Hill was for many years the scene 
of the most lavish hospitality, being pre- 
sided over by Mrs. McArthur and her 
charming daughters — Margaret, who mar- 
ried Mr. Kerchevel ; Effie, the wife of 
William Allen ; Eliza, who became Mrs. 
Anderson ; and Mary, who married Dr. 
Gary A. Trimble. 




WILLIAM ALLEN. 



\ 



IN January, 1819, William Allen came 
to Chillicothe from Lynchburg, Va., 
to join his sister, Mrs. Thurman, who had 
preceded him but a few months. 

After completing a course at the '' Old 
Academy," he immediately began the 
study of law with Mr. Edward King, and 
made his first argument in court in de- 
fence of himself, James T. Worthington, 
and Allen McArthur, who had all been 
arrested on complaint of an Elder of the 
Methodist Church for standing at the 
ladies' entrance, after church, while wait- 
ing for the young ladies they had taken 
there. 

The next evening, as he was leaving 
home, some one came to tell him that a 
71 



7 2 Che-Le- Co- The, 



mob of young men were about to blow up 
the Elder's house. Upon learning this, 
he ran to the house on Water Street, 
where he found the cannon loaded and 
primed. They were In the act of setting 
It off, when he jumped upon It, and plac- 
ing his foot upon the priming prevented 
Its being lighted, and In that way pro- 
tected his enemy from his friends. Soon 
after this he was elected Captain of the 
'* Chllllcothe Blues," the first company of 
mllltia in Chllllcothe, and marched with 
them to the Licking summit, to attend the 
grand celebration at the opening of the 
Erie Canal. The ceremonies were opened 
by De Witt Clinton, then Governor of 
New York, who threw the first shovelful 
of earth from the canal. 

About this time, when he had barely 
reached manhood, at a camp-meeting In a 
grove near Fruit Hill, he was asked by 
Allen McArthur to go with him to speak 
to his mother. They went to the carriage, 
where young McArthur presented Wm. 



Glimpses of Yesterday, 73 

Allen to his mother and sister. From 
that day on through his long and/ eventful 
life, the name of Effie McArthur seemed 
graven on his heart. 

General McArthur opposed him as a 
suitor for his daughter's hand, as he did 
all others. William did not give up his 
suit, however. He studied hard, worked 
diligently at his profession, and deter- 
mined to win such honors for himself that 
his name might stand side by side. In the 
annals of the country, with that of the man 
who had refused him the hand of his 
daughter. It was not long before he be- 
gan to realize something of his ambition. 
He was only twenty-five when he received 
the nomination as Democratic candidate 
for Congress from this district. Governor 
McArthur being his opponent on the 
Whig ticket. The young Democratic 
candidate made a hard fight, canvassed 
every voting precinct in the district, meet- 
ing in debate some of the most noted 
speakers in the State. 



74 Che-Le- Co- The, 



Shortly before the election he had been 
challenged to meet Thomas Ewing in de- 
bate at Frankfort. He had been detained 
in some of the southern counties of the 
district. Heavy rains had swollen the 
Scioto River far over its banks. When 
he reached the ferry, which he expected 
to carry him over, it was late in the night, 
and the ferryboat had been swept away by 
the flood. He called the old ferryman 
out and told him to hold his lantern so 
that the light would fall across the water 
in the direction of the landing on the 
other side. The ferryman protested, but 
the young man repeated the order, in his 
emphatic way, and dashed into the swol- 
len river. It was a severe test of the 
nerve of both horse and rider, but after a 
long struggle with surging torrent, they 
reached the other side in safety. Con- 
tinuing on his way through a drenching 
rain, he reached his destination in time 
to attend the meeting. 

He was elected to Congress, over Gen- 



Glimpses of Yesterday, 75 

eral McArthur, by one vote ; that vote he 
considered McArthur s, as they had agreed 
to vote for each other. Two years later 
he was elected to the United States Sen- 
ate, which kept him away from home for 
fourteen years. 

In the meantime, Effie Mci\rthur was 
married to Dr. Coons, of Alabama, who 
lived but a short time. Several years 
after the death of Governor McArthur, 
his daughter having reached an age when 
she felt competent to decide important 
questions for herself, gave her heart and 
hand to the man who had been faithful to 
her for so many years. But their happi- 
ness was destined to be short. In two 
years, the wife to whom he was devoted, 
was stricken with pneumonia, and died 
after a week's illness. After her death 
he retired to Fruit Hill, with their infant 
daughter and his stepson, Duncan, where 
he lived almost in solitude for many 
years, allowing no political honors to 
tempt him from his retirement. 



76 Che-Le- Co- The, 



When President James Buchanan asked 
him to accept the position of Minister to 
the Court of St. James, he decHned, say- 
ing that nothing should tempt him into 
the world again. However, in August, 
1873, when, after receiving many tele- 
grams from delegates to the State Con- 
vention, then in session at Columbus, he 
finally received one from his nephew, 
Allen G. Thurman, saying, '' Uncle, for 
my sake, and for the sake of the party, 
accept," he yielded, accepted the nomi- 
nation, and was elected Governor. At the 
close of his administration, he again re- 
tired to Fruit Hill, where he remained in 
private life until his death. 



PRESENTATION OF SWORD TO 
COLONEL CROGHAN. 

ON the 13th of August, 18 13, the 
ladies of Chlllicothe presented 
Colonel Croghan with a sword, together 
with the following address : 

'' Sir, — In consequence of the gallant 
defence which, under the influence of 
Divine Providence, was effected by you 
and the troops under your command at 
Fort Stephenson, at lower Sandusky, on 
the evening of the 2d inst., the ladies of 
Chillicothe undersigned are impressed 
with a high sense of your merit as a 
soldier and a gentleman, and with great 
confidence in your patriotism and valor 
present you with a sword. 

*' Mary Finley, Mary Sterrett, Ann 
77 



yg Che-Le- Co- The. 



Crelghton, Eliza Creighton, Eleanor 
Lamb, Nancy Waddle, Eliza Carlisle, 
Mary A. Southard, Susan D. Wheaton, 
Ruhama Irwin, Judith McLandburgh, 
Margaret McLandburgh, Margaret Mil- 
ler, Elizabeth Martin, Nancy Mc- 
Arthur, Jane McCoy, Lavinia Fulton, 
Martha Scott, Eleanor Worthington, 
Catherine Fullerton, Rebecca M. Orr, 
Susan Walke, Ann M. Dunn, Margaret 
Keys, Charlotte James, Esther Doolittle, 
Eleanor Buchanen, Margaret McFarland, 
Deborah Ferree, Jane M. Evans, Frances 
Brush, Mary Curtis, Mary P. Brown, Jane 
Heylan, Nancy Kerr, Catherine Hough, 
Sallie McLean." 





elites 


^^' 

^^i#' 


.:>^^K,v.^c>^^,^ 


^'^5»!e«-ik^*A-<fe 


-r--«K-^.^ 



"THE REST IS SILENCE." 

A SONNET. 

Written upon the Centennial Anniversary of Chillicothe, Ohio, 
April I, 1S96. 

SCIOTO flows along its placid course 
As when long since Tecumseh trod its shore, 
Or burned his signal fires to herald war, 
Adown the valley from the river's source ; 
One hundred years have passed away since then 
And on the maize-grown lowlands, forest-shorn, 
The city fattens, in its age re-born. 
While they whom stalwart Massie and his men 
Deposed, forgotten are ; their vanished ranks 
Of hostile Shawanese and Wyandot 

Have left no trace where oak and beech up-rear, 
On Logan's Mount, or by Yoctangy's banks. 

The town endures, through fire and plague and 
plot, 
" The rest is silence," in this hundreth year. 



79 



THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN 
CHURCH. 

IN the summer of 1797, William Speer, 
a young Presbyterian minister, left 
his home in Chambersburgh, Pennsyl- 
vania, and started on an exploring tour 
into the Northwest Territory, then almost 
an unbroken wilderness^ Travelling on 
horseback, he came at length to Chilli- 
cothe, at that time just a year old. 

During that summer he organized a 
church ; they had no " Meeting House " in 
the village, nor were they able to build one, 
so a half-finished log cabin, standing near 
the corner of Short Water and Bridge 
Streets, was secured. There was no floor 
laid, and they were unable to procure 
material for one, but in their anxiety for 
80 




FIRST PRKSBYTERIAN CIIURCn 



Glimpses of Yesterday, 8 1 

a church, they took it as it was, and used 
the sleepers for seats. After Mr. Speer's 
resignation, and for some time during Dr. 
Wilson's pastorate, the congregation wor- 
shipped in the old State House, but in A 
Tour throitgh the West, by Mr. F. Gum- 
ming, we find an account of his visit to 
Chillicothe in 1807. 

Speaking of the Court House, he says : 
" It is an ornament to the town as is the 
small plain belfry on the Presbyterian 
Meeting House, a handsome brick build- 
ing on Second Street." 

The present congregation of the First 
Presbyterian Church, seated in luxurious 
pews, surrounded by beautiful memorial 
windows, and listening to the mellifluous 
tones of the organ, can scarcely realize 
the simplicity of the earlier places of wor- 
ship of the pioneers of the church ; but a 
few can easily recall the old church, which 
was located at the present site of the 
Chillicothe Foundry, on the south side of 
Second Street, just east of the canal. It 



8 2 Che-Le- Co- The, 



was a two-story brick building, with double 
doors on the north, east, and west, and a 
gallery running entirely around those 
sides, the front seats of which, on the 
north, were occupied by the choir. It 
was paved with red brick, fashioned in 
large squares, something like the tiling 
of the present day ; the pews were as un- 
comfortable as any one could wish, the 
backs running perpendicularly up, the top 
catching an ordinary sized person about 
the nape of the neck, while the lambs of the 
flock were completely hidden from view, 
and their presence could only be conjec- 
tured by a suppressed sneeze, or by the 
occasional dropping of a marble. 

The heating apparatus consisted of 
three ten-plate stoves, and it was a sight 
to see the old colored sexton, Harry An- 
derson, moving from one to the other with 
his hook to pull the coals forward, pre- 
paratory to firing up with the cordwood 
used in those days. His appearance was 
even more dignified than that of the min- 



Glimpses of Yesterday, 83 

ister, and he seemed to feel the full weight 
of the responsibility resting on him. Foot 
stoves were In common use, and those who 
had them employed him to fill them with 
hot coals, and place them in their pews 
before service began. The large stoves 
informed us where they were made, and 
bore the Inscription, '' James and Mc- 
Arthur, Buckhorn Furnace." 

The pulpit was on the south side of the 
church, and was simply a box built on the 
wall, with steps leading up on the side, 
and directly under it was a smaller one 
for the clerk. 

Probably the greatest ornaments of the 
church were the chandeliers ; they were 
large round blocks of wood suspended 
from the ceiling after the manner of the 
swinging lamp of to-day, in which were 
inserted small curved pieces, about two 
feet long, with a receptacle for a tallow 
candle at the end of each. These blocks 
were painted white, and suggested the 
idea of a swan or a goose, with half a 



8 4 Che-Lc' Co- The, 



dozen necks springing from different points 
of its body. It was the duty of the sexton 
to snufT these candles at proper intervals ; 
and it was always done in the most rever- 
ential manner. The choir occupied the 
gallery facing the pulpit, and there the 
belles and beaux of the church would 
meet to cast loving glances, whisper sweet 
nothings, and sing the good old tunes 
from Masons Sacred Harp, One of the 
leaders of the choir was Mr. Cary A. Lee, 
a partner In the dry goods house of Mc- 
Coy & Lee, a native of Virginia and a 
handsome, interesting man. Mr. S. B. 
Duffield was another leader, and Mr. 
Angus Lewis Fullerton for several years 
led the singing. Miss Margaret Worth- 
ington, afterwards Mrs. E. D. Mansfield, 
and Miss Elizabeth Dun, who married 
Benjamin Douglas of New York, are the 
two most prominent lady singers that I 
remember, — though there were many 
others who gave valuable assistance. 
There was no organ to assist them, but 



Glimpses of Yesterday. 85 

they made good music, and the memory 
of Old Hundred and Coronatioriy as they 
filled the old church In those days, brings 
with it the faces of many who have long 
since joined in the songs of the angels. 

The first pastor, Mr. Speer, was suc- 
ceeded by the Rev. Dr. Robert G. Wilson, 
who was revered as few men ever are. 
Rev. William Graham was the next pastor. 
Probably the first minister those now 
living will remember, was the Rev. Hugh 
S. Fullerton, and the insufficiency of 
words Is felt in speaking of this good 
man ; his kind, benevolent look and 
gentle manners showed him to be a true 
follower of his Master, and his whole life 
proved him a consistent Christian. Unlike 
a great many ministers, he had no terrors 
for the young, and when the boys of the 
church were disposed to be unruly, a 
single word, even a look, given In the 
mild manner he always possessed, never 
failed in its effect. 

The Rev. Thomas Woodrow succeeded 



8 6 Che-Le- Co- The, 



him ; he was a very scholarly man, and it 
was during his pastorate that the church 
removed to its new edifice on Main Street. 
The church was always filled with a goodly 
number of worshippers, many of whom 
were our most prominent and influential 
citizens. Among them were Mr. George 
Renick, who, although an old man, al- 
ways came on horseback from his home 
on the hill ; Mr. James Miller, whose wife 
was indeed one of the Mothers in Israel ; 
Mr. Wm. Miller, Mr. Henry S. Lewis, 
for many years treasurer of the county ; 
Mr. Ebenezer Tuttle, the McCoys, Fuller- 
tons, Carlisles, Waddles, Duns, Dr. Win- 
ship's family, Mr. Wm. Creighton, Sr., 
Thomas Jacob, Richard K. Massie, Francis 
and James P. Campbell, Josiah L. Hearne, 
Miss Virginia Hays, Mrs. Mitchell, Mrs. 
Fultz, Mrs. Doland, Mrs. Watson, the 
Misses Bartlett, the Lunbecks, Reids, Sil- 
veys, Jos. Jones and family, the Worthing- 
tons, Wm. H. Douglas, the Gibsons and 
Chestnuts (from Huntington township). 



Glimpses of Yesterday, 87 



Mrs. Tarlton, Mrs. Hoffman, Thomas 
McDougall, Ebenezer White, Mrs. David 
ColHns, Mrs. Nancy Allston, Mrs. Cry- 
der, Mrs. Bourne, Jas. McLean, Robert 
Stillwell, John Hamill, John FUntham, 
John McFarland, Joseph Sill, Mrs. Webb, 
Mr. Ross, and Robert Stewart. The 
elders remembered are : John McLean, 
Anthony Walke, Dr. David Wills, Law- 
rence S. McClure, old father Haynes, 
and Samuel Patton ; perhaps Mr. Thomas 
Carothers and Mr. Franklin were elders 
in the old church, — I know they were in 
the new. 

There was one meeting of Synod in 
that church, in which the merits of old 
and new school theology were discussed, 
and which resulted in about twenty of the 
members going off to form the New School 
Church. 

This infant Church invited the Rev. 
George Beecher, of Rochester, to become 
their pastor, and greatly to their own sur- 
prise he accepted. Being a man of great 



88 Che-Le-Co-The, 



energy and throwing himself heartily into 
his work, Mr. Beecher soon built up the 
Church, being himself pastor, singing- 
school teacher, and leader of the choir. 
For some time services were held in the 
Seminary, until the church on the corner 
of Paint and Fifth Streets was built. 
Mr. Beecher, also, built for himself a 
handsome house, surrounded by a beauti- 
ful garden, filled with fine fruit and lovely 
flowers. It was in defending his fruit 
from the ravages of the birds that Mr. 
Beecher was killed, by the accidental dis- 
charge of his own gun. 

For some years the Church flourished, 
though it never reached the prosperity it 
enjoyed during Mr. Beecher s pastorate, 
and after having had several ministers, 
the Rev. Messrs. Swift, Howe, Stone, 
Mills, Wm. Beecher, and others, was 
finally merged in the First Church. 

The Sunday-School was then, as now, 
a prominent feature of the Church, and 
memory recalls with pleasure the names 



Glimpses of Yesterday, 89 

and faces of the pretty young ladies who 
instructed the children in the right way. 

John McLean, one of the Elders, was 
auditor of the county for many years, and 
lived where Judge Safford's residence 
now is, with an office in the public build- 
ing, which stood then on the corner of 
the Court House square, in which were 
also the Clerk's and Recorder's offices on 
the first floor. The Auditor's and Clerk's 
offices were connected by a door, and it 
was there the prayer meetings of the 
Church were held. The attendance was 
usually very light, and it seemed very 
appropriate to remind the Lord, as they 
always did, of his promise to the two or 
three gathered in His name. One boy, 
who was generally of the " two or three," 
is sorry now that it was often against his 
will, for it should have been a pleasure to 
attend his pious mother, if for nothing 
else than to carry the lantern which 
guided her through the dark streets. 

The great social feature of the Church 



90 Che-L e- Co- The, 



was the "Sewing Society"; the present 
devices for raising Church money had 
not been developed, and the ladies knew 
no way but with their needles to make 
articles for sale. They met at stated 
times in the home of some lady, by in- 
vitation, and spent the afternoon in sew- 
ing and talking until dark ; they were 
then serv^ed to an excellent supper, to 
which the gentlemen were invited, and 
the evening was spent in conversation ; 
it was then an enjoyable occasion for old 
and young. There was usually a sale of 
left-over articles in strawberry time, and 
thus the treasury was repleted. There 
were few organizations, though the ladies 
were interested in distributing the Bible 
in connection with '' The Bible Society." 

Richard Massie also oro^anized a Sun- 
day-School in the west end, in which work 
he was assisted by Judge McCoy, Joshua 
Sill, and others of our younger members. 

The seats in the old church, nearest 
the wall, on the north, east, and west 



Glimpses of Yesterday, 91 

sides, were raised a step, and were known 
as "the high seats." The services, to 
one of the present day, would seem of 
extraordinary length, but our fathers 
made no complaint even over the longest 
prayers, and sermons of an hour and a 
half. It is related of Dr. Wilson that his 
marriage service was so long that the 
bridal party had to be accommodated 
with seats, and during service on Sunday, 
it was usual for those in the congregation 
who were weary to rise and stand a while, 
to relieve the strain of sitting so long. 

A Mrs. McCauley, who never altered 
the style of her dress during the change 
of fashion, was a notable figure, as she 
always wore an immense bonnet. Mr. 
John Carlisle never changed the style of 
wearing his hair, and the older people 
will recall his appearance, when Dr. Wil- 
son, of Cincinnati, preached, as he sat at 
the head of his family, with hair brushed 
back and formed into the old-fashioned 
queue, eagerly following the discourse, 



92 Che-L c- Co- The, 



and occasionally nodding his approval of 
his favorite minister. 

The venerable colored man, Uncle 
Billy Daily, and his wife, who always 
looked so neat and clean, must not be 
forgotten. They were regular communi- 
cants in the Church, and, with the sexton 
and his wife, and James Hill and his 
wife, comprised the colored membership 
of the Church. 

It seems only appropriate to mention 
Mrs. Baldwin last, as she was always the 
last one at church. After the prayer and 
singing were over, and the minister fairly 
in his discourse, the door would open, 
and Mrs. Baldwin would sail in, attracting 
the attention of the whole congregation. 
I hardly think that was her object, but she 
was of the slow kind, and doubtless lingered 
longer over her toilet than she was aware 
of, — at least she always gave evidence 
that these toilet duties had never been 
neglected. She was the widow of Michael 
Baldwin, a lawyer, who was speaker of 



Glimpses of Yesterday. 93 

the first Ohio house of representatives, 
and in his day a prominent man in public 
affairs. She was past middle age, but 
possessed the taste for dress of a younger 
woman, and having a small competence 
was able to gratify it in the most extrava- 
gant style ; her silk dresses were of the 
brightest colors ; her hats were adorned 
with the heaviest plumes ; her gold watch 
with heavy neckchain was conspicuously 
displayed, while the diamond rings on 
her fingers sparkled most brilliantly, as 
she tapped her golden snuff-box. Her 
whole appearance was so different from 
that of the more modest style in which 
the ladies of that day were accustomed to 
dress, that it could not fail to attract at- 
tention. She was afterward married (in 
the church) to a man named Stewart. 
She had her vanities, it is true, but was a 
good woman at heart. 

At length time brought us into our new 
church, which seemed to us perfect in 
every detail, and we were a happy people. 



94 Che-Le- Co- The. 



We had a succession of pastors, — the 
Rev. Mr. Carson, Dr. Anderson, and Dr. 
Stanton. It was during the pastorate of 
the latter, that the subject of an organ 
came up ; most of the people favored the 
idea, though the more orthodox feared it 
was not Presbyterian ; however, when the 
organ was put up and paid for, nothing 
more was said. 

We came next into the long term 
(more than a quarter of a century,) of the 
Rev. Dr. Biggs, which, with the two short 
pastorates of Rev. Mr. McWiliiams and 
Dr. Fishburn, brings us to the present in- 
cumbent, the Rev. William C. Stinson. 

The old times, the old Church, have 
gone, and of the old members who once 
gathered in her walls, there is left — not 
one I But although their epitaphs have 
long been written, their strong character, 
their deep piety, and self sacrificing devo- 
tion, have lived after them, and have 
given to their descendants the prosperity 
they now enjoy. 




A GLIMPSE OF YESTERDAY. 



SOCIETY IN THE EARLY DAYS. 

THE society of Chillicothe at an early 
day was composed of a few families 
whose position, education, and leisure, 
gave them opportunities for social enjoy- 
ment, not often found in a new country 
just rescued from the wilderness. Social 
meetings were participated in by old and 
young alike. Mrs. Creighton whose 
sprightly enjoyment of social entertain- 
ments seemed never to tire, with Mrs. 
Swearengen, Mrs. Walke, Mrs. McCoy, 
Mrs. Waddle, Mrs. James, Mrs. Wood- 
bridge, Mrs. Fullerton, and Mrs. Bond 
were always present to give tone and 
character to all gaities. The young ladies 
born and reared in Chillicothe in the 
earlier days of its life, were Mary Worth- 

95 



96 Che-L e- Co- The, 



ington, afterwards Mrs. McComb ; Sarah 
Worthington, afterwards Mrs. Edward 
King, and later, Mrs. Peter ; Miss 
Frances Mc Arthur, afterwards Mrs. Ker- 
cheval, and Mary Sterrett later Mrs. 
Wallace of Kentucky. In the next gay 
coterie of lovely girls were Sarah Creigh- 
ton, dainty, dignified, and sensitive, who 
now, when I look back, always brings to 
mind that line of Pope's, " Die of a Rose 
in aromatic pain," and Susan, good, 
lovely, and adored by us children ; their 
cousins, Evelyn Byrd, a lively girl of 
strong convictions and good sense, Nancy 
Massie, to my mind the greatest beauty 
of them all, and Ann James. Before 
these last came Mary Tiffin, the daughter 
of Joseph Tiffin, a handsome intelligent 
girl who married William Y. Gilmore ; 
Effie McArthur who first married Dr. 
Coons of the South, and many years later, 
William Allen ; Eleanor and Margaret 
Worthington ; Mary Evans and Eliza- 
beth Waddle were taken in their first 



Glimpses of Yesterday, 97 

bloom, by Death ; Elizabeth McCoy, 
now Mrs. Foulke ; Mary Porter Tiffin 
married in her sixteenth year to Joseph 
Reynolds of Urbana ; Margaret Fuller- 
ton, and, perhaps, some others who have 
escaped my memory. Then came families 
with sisters and daughters innumerable, 
but they were not natives of Chillicothe. 
The ladies always had their work-baskets 
and worked at their embroidery or light 
sewing, while entertaining their gentlemen 
callers. 

Perhaps it would not be amiss to tell 
of the menus at these entertainments. 
First as to dinners. The piece de resis- 
tance was always a saddle of venison, or 
of mutton, or a roast of beef, or a turkey 
according to the season. At the ladies' 
end of the table was always a ham. The 
side dishes were game, if possible, chicken, 
or calf's-head. There were always four 
dishes of meat and four vegetables not in- 
cluding slaw or lettuce ; always jelly and 
pickles. Then came puddings or pies, 



98 Che-Le-Co-Tke. 



custards or some sweet dish, and there 
was always wine. 

For teas, a large tray with tea, coffee, 
sugar, and cream, was handed round to 
the guests ; previously all were provided 
with plates. Then followed another tray 
with ham, tongue, chipped beef or cold 
breast of fowl nicely sliced, and thin bread 
and butter, biscuits or rolls, buttered, 
small cakes and cheese. This tray always 
came round twice. Preserves and cream 
with large cakes followed, pound cake 
and fruit cake being always among the 
number. Raisins, almonds, and wine 
were usually served last of all. 

I must here mention a very important 
and indispensable colored man, Morris 
O'Free, who prepared and served all these 
delicious eatables. At weddings especial- 
ly, were his services required. At large 
companies he came to the house, baked 
the cakes, and prepared everything ready 
for serving ; then, with an assistant (usually 
Nelson Pyles) he performed that duty also. 



Glimpses of Yesterday. 99 

What Chillicothe child does not re- 
member Jim Richards, the barber, who 
on military parades beat the drum and 
shook his head adorned with the drum 
major's hat and plume ? He stood fore- 
most in our childish eyes, even above 
Captain Tarlton, who rode so majestically 
at the head of his light dragoons. Most 
of the settlers from Virginia brought 
slaves with them, as they could not leave 
them free there. Here, of course, they 
were free, but they clung to the families 
who brought them, and served with pride 
their former owners, knowing full well 
that they would always be taken care of. 

Susan Creighton Williams when visit- 
ing Chillicothe about five years ago, in 
speaking of the early intimacies of our 
families, related some incidents of her 
youth. One was as follows : One day 
she had made a Kentucky pie and upon 
going into the dining room to put it on 
the sideboard she found her father en- 
gaged in a business conversation with a 



I oo Che-Le- Co- The. 



young gentleman, who, on her entrance, 
rose to leave, but Mr. Creighton with his 
characteristic hospitality, invited him to 
stay and dine with them, which invitation 
he accepted. He was much pleased with 
both the lady and the pie, and said to 
himself, " That 's the girl for me." This 
gentleman was Jesse Williams, brother of 
Hon. Micaja Williams. At that time, he 
was an engineer on the Ohio Canal ; and, 
though reared in the Friends' or Quaker 
faith, he was brought into the Presby- 
terian Church during the revival under 
Mr. Graham, and became a most devoted 
member of that denomination. 

In 1 83 1, Susan M. Creighton and Jesse 
L. Williams were married, and soon after 
removed to Indiana, Mr: Williams having 
been appointed to the superintendency of 
the public works of the State of Indiana. 

Mr. and Mrs. Sterrett lived on the hill- 
side between Main and Second Streets, 
the property now owned by the Wisslers. 
The grounds immediately around the 



Glimpses of Yesterday. loi 

house, though not large, were beautified 
by lovely roses and choice shrubbery. In 
front of the house a large meadow ex- 
tended to High Street, and took in the 
large elm tree near the corner of Second 
Street. Mrs. Sterrett was a sister of 
Mr. Creighton. Their oldest daughter 
married Mr. Wallace of Covington, Ken- 
tucky. Their two daughters, Mary and 
Helen, attended Miss Baskerville's school. 
Mary Wallace married John Shillito of 
Cincinnati. Julia and Lucinda Sterrett 
were married on the same evening ; Julia 
to Bela Latham of Columbus, and 
Lucinda to General Murphy, an able and 
eloquent lawyer of Chillicothe. Miss 
Baskerville boarded in Mr. Sterrett's 
family when she came to Chillicothe. 

Judge Leven Belt was the first Mayor 
of Chillicothe. He lived on Second 
Street, where Mrs. Waddle's residence 
now stands. His house was a two story 
frame building surrounded with a fine 
lawn, and on the eastern side of it there 



1 02 Che-Le- Co- The. 



was a large weeping-willow tree. Mrs. 
Belt was of French extraction, and charm- 
ing and graceful in society. Judge Belt 
long continued to wear knee breeches, 
silk stockings, and low shoes with large 
silver buckles. Miss Baskerville some- 
times held her watermelon parties on 
their lawn under the great willow tree. 
In early days the festive lawyers had 
their Sunday dinner parties at the homes 
of Judge Belt, Mr. Creighton, Mr. James, 
and Colonel Brush, alternately. 

Family life was so different In those 
early days, one hardly knows where to 
begin to tell about it. In the kitchen we 
see first the large open fireplace, wide 
and deep, the great back log, the front 
stick, supported on large iron andirons, 
the long-handled shovel and tongs, with 
the waffle irons, and long-handled pan- 
cake pan which required an adept to toss 
the delicate pancakes. The dutch oven, 
the little oven, the skillets all fitted with 
iron covers, or lids to hold coals when not 



Glimpses of Yesterday, lo"* 



J 



properly heated, the griddles and grid- 
irons. The favorite way to cook steak 
or chicken was by broiling. Turkeys were 
suspended by cords before the fire with 
pans underneath to catch the gravy for 
basting. Afterwards came the tin roaster 
with open front and revolving spit, on 
which the turkey could be turned to the 
fire ; also the tin reflectors to bake biscuits 
or pies. There was no baking powder at 
that time ; but later came that abomina- 
tion of all good cooks — saleratus. The 
introduction of cook stoves made an era 
in the kitchen. Never was cornbread, 
however, so good in any form as when 
baked in a closed skillet. 

The price of prints or calicoes was fifty 
cents per yard, though a lower grade 
could be had for thirty-seven and a half 
cents. Shirting muslin was correspond- 
ingly high. Home or country linen was 
good and lasting, and furnished most of 
the towelling used for household purposes. 
Think now of giving fifty cents for a yard 



1 04 Che-Le- Co- The. 



of calico, as was done in 1825, and of 
having no woollen underwear, of wearing 
low-cut shoes, and low-necked dresses 
buttoned or hooked up in the back, and 
of being without the other little things 
which are now so indispensable ! 

Major William Rutledge, a soldier of 
the Revolution, came to Chillicothe about 
1800. He was a stone-mason by trade. 
Stone was plentiful, and many of the first 
houses were built of it. The first stone 
Court-House was built by him. 

His wife, Betty Rutledge, was quite an 
original character. I came near calling 
her small, but she was not small, though 
short, with small hands and feet. As I 
recall her looks when she came to see my 
father, — seated in a low rocking-chair, 
smoking a pipe, her short legs crossed, 
and her little feet in their shining morocco 
shoes pointing upwards, and her bright, 
sparkling eyes, — the picture is so vivid, 
that I am compelled to stop and think 
how long ago it was. They lived in the 



Glimpses of Yesterday, 105 

jail at that time. Granny Rutledge, as 
she was called, knew everybody, and 
especially enjoyed herself at Court time. 
The town was then crowded by country 
people, and everything was brisk and 
lively. The lawyers were a jolly set, and 
it was very entertaining to hear her gos- 
sip about them. She had some noted 
boarders, who were confined in jail by 
their friends in order to break up their 
drinking habits. She was very kind and 
did all in her power to reform them. 

She had a passion for getting dresses, 
and her ambition was to get one hundred. 
It was then the custom when a wife 
signed a deed, for the purchaser to give her 
a dress. Once when Mrs. Rutledo^e sio^ned 
a deed, Colonel Bond said to her, '' Go, 
yourself, and select your dress." Accord- 
ingly she did, and chose a handsome satin, 
the finest she could find, of a beautiful 
shade of brown. Before her husband's 
death she had attained her great desire, 
and owned a hundred dresses. They had 



1 06 Che-Le- Co- The, 



no children, and when the Major died 
she was alone in the world. Then she 
suddenly came out a gay and lively widow, 
and married again. The second marriage 
was not a very happy one. I do not think 
she added any more dresses to her ward- 
robe, and at her death the dresses were 
scattered to the four winds. 



Education was not neglected in the 
early days, for in 1820, or 1821, Mr. 
Steinour, an English gentleman, with his 
wife and widowed sister-in-law, opened a 
select boarding-school for young ladies ; 
first, in a one-story stone house on the 
corner of Mulberry and Main Streets, 
where the Mill now stands, afterwards in 
the two-story brick house on East Main 
Street, now occupied as a bakery. Across 
the alley from this building, was a two- 
story stone house, owned by Mr. John 
McDougal, whose daughter, George Ann, 
was a pupil in this school. The other 



Glimpses of Yesterday. 107 

pupils were, Ellen and Margaret Worth- 
ington, Sarah and Susan Crelghton, Mary 
and Diathea Tiffin, Elizabeth McCoy, 
Elizabeth Waddle, Mary Miller, Matilda 
Evans, Julia Galloway of Xenia, Ara- 
bella McLean of Lebanon (daughter of 
the late Judge John McLean), Eliza 
Helan of Urbana, and Sarah Green from 
near Kingston. No day scholars were ad- 
mitted. 

Uniformity in dress was not required, 
except in millinery. The prescribed form 
was cloth caps for winter, and white cord- 
ed bonnets (not sun-bonnets), trimmed 
with pink ribbon, for summer wear. The 
school must have had quite a reputation 
at that time for scholarship, as so many 
young ladies from a distance were in at- 
tendance. It was, however, of short 
duration, as the proprietors soon moved 
to Philadelphia. While in Chillicothe, 
Mrs. Steinour, the widowed sister-in-law 
of Mr. Steinour, was married in St. Paul's 
Church, on Walnut Street, by the Rector, 



1 08 Che-Le- Co- The. 



Mr. Kellogg, to a minister of the Epis- 
copal Church, the Rev. Mr. Morse. 
Probably but few of our citizens know 
that there ever was a boarding-school in 
Chillicothe. 

Mrs. Thurman in early times taught a 
school for girls. Miss Fisher taught 
music, also drawing and painting. Mr. 
Gregoire taught French. His daughter, 
Virginia, was the little French girl who 
incited in Allen G. Thurman a love for 
the study of French. 





THK OLD ELM 



:<^>^^p,^^^^ 


^■'V^ ;-^\w- 


;x^l!lii^^^^^fe 


^■-^ :-,V^.;, 



THE OLD ELM. 

THOU mighty monarch of the earth, 
So vast thy trunk, — so huge thy girth 
From tiny seed, oh ! hast thou grown ? 
What subtle myst'ries thou hast known ! 

Great monument of years long past, 

Thou surely wert of royal cast : 
With verdure crowned — and robe of green, 

A King, indeed ! of noble mien. 

Brave sentinel of mountain near, 
Where castle bold, its turrets rear : 

While, gazing up its dizzy heights. 
We vainly watch for plumed Knights. 

Thy glossy foliage, reaching high. 

Made dainty lace-work 'cross the sky ; 

Eolian-like weird winds did sigh 
Amidst thy leafy canopy. 
109 



1 1 o Che-Le- Co- The, 



Coy lovers linger'd 'neath thy boughs, 
Each pledging true, eternal vows. 

Thy sylvan arches shelter'd here 
The nesting robins, year by year. 

Sweet children, human blossoms gay,. 

Their clasped hands a garland, they, 
With twinkling eyes, and winsome grace, 

Would circle round thy generous base. 

Long, long ago, the Indian Braves 
Came gliding down Scioto's waves : 

Their war-whoops echoed, loud and shrill, 
From Logan's Mount, from hill to hill. 

When Red man stood with fiery glance. 
And Pale-face nobly sheathed his lance. 

Beneath thy shade, grim war did cease, 
They gladly smoked the Pipe of Peace. 

Thou wert a link, oh ! glorious tree, 
'Twixt then and now — right royally. 

Thy missions o'er, thou 'rt laid to rest, 
On gentle nature's welcome breast. 

Thou 'rt now consigned to Mother Earth ; 
Endeared the place, which gave thee birth 



Glimpses of Yesterday, 1 1 1 



The cradle of thine infant years 

Is now thy tomb, bedewed with tears. 



A fragrant sward, fair Nature weaves 
Of myrtle blooms, and glossy leaves ; 

For-get-me-nots of Heaven's own blue, 
And modest violets, filled with dew. 



We kneel beside this charmed spot : 
Thy mem'ry ne'er will be forgot : 

Soft zephers chant thy requiem knell ; 
Farewell, dear elm, dear elm, farewell. 





.1 



THE CHILLICOTHE ELM. 

OF the historical elms given in Howe's 
History of Ohio, the Chillicothe 
elm is shown to be the largest. 

The famous elm of Boston Common, 
planted in 1670 (but now gone), had a 
girth of sixteen feet. 

The Northampton elm, named by Oliver 
Wendell Holmes, was twenty- four feet 
five inches. 

The Johnston elm, named by Ralph 
Waldo Emerson, measured twenty-two 
feet. It had twelve prodigious branches, 
each a tree. 

The Cambridge elm, under which Whit- 
field preached and Washington took com- 
mand of the army, was less than twenty- 
two feet in girth and was two hundred 
years old. 

iia 



Glimpses of Yesterday, 1 1 3 

The living Giant and Great Elm in 
Broad Street, Wethersfield, measured 
twenty-two feet five inches. Four of its 
branches measured respectively in girth : 
sixteen feet, eleven feet, ten feet, and eight 
feet ; the circumference of all was four 
hundred and twenty-nine feet. 

The Chillicothe elm measured twenty- 
eight feet six inches. It was situated on 
the south side of West Second Street, 
midway between Walnut Street and 
Western Avenue. Its age is unknown, 
but it was an immense tree when the first 
white settlers came to this valley. 

Tradition tells us that Logan held his 
first councils beneath this tree, and that a 
treaty was made with the Indians under 
its huge branches. 





THE OLD BRIDGE. 

THE old bridge over the Scioto River, 
connecting the town of ChilHcothe 
with the north, towards Lancaster and 
Columbus, has been written up in the 
histories of the State, in pamphlets and 
in newspapers, until little can be said that 
is new. For a detailed description of its 
masonr}', superstructure, and the iron 
used in its construction, the scientific and 
curious are referred to an exhaustive 
paper read before the Ohio Society of 
Engineers, by the late Charles B. Cook. 
the city's engineer, at the time of its de- 
molition. This paper was published in 
Januar}-. 1S87. 

Perhaps, however, something more gen- 
eral in regard to its origin and descriptive 
114 



Glimpses of Yesterday, 1 1 5 

of its location and long life may be of 
interest, as few persons now living can 
realize the many changes wrought by 
natural causes, and by the hand of man, 
since the settlement of this town. 

The river then came down from the 
north, turned sharply to the southwest, 
where the railroad now crosses the north- 
eastern limits of the present City Park, 
swept around the high ground from Mill 
Street to the head of Paint and of Mul- 
berry Streets, making a horse-shoe bend ; 
and then, as now, ran nearly due east for 
a mile. Over this stretch was our bridge, 
and, half a mile below, has stood for the 
last twenty years the Norfolk and West- 
ern Railroad iron bridge. 

The present gravel bar and the City 
Park were then densely covered with 
large sycamore trees, elms, two of which 
are yet standing, pawpaw bushes, fallen 
timber, and drift-wood ; as the whole was 
often under water, it formed a veritable 
South American jungle, breeding fevers, 



1 1 6 Che-L e- Co- The. 



which were half-sisters to the dreaded 
yellow fever. One sycamore, then stand- 
ing on the north bank of the river, was of 
such old age and gigantic size, and was so 
burned on the inside that, as the story is 
told by those now living, two horses could 
be stabled within its rounded trunk ; and 
once an improvident, homeless family 
took up its quarters there. 

In 1796, Ebenezer Zane cut his trail, 
or road, from Wheeling, Virginia, to 
Maysville, Kentucky, located the **Zane 
section " of land on the north bank of the 
river, and established a ferry. At a 
point in this trail, three hundred yards 
northwest of the end of the old bridge, 
the road forked ; one branch went down 
to the ferry at the foot of Hickory Street, 
the other went through the woods, crossed 
the river at the ** upper ford" — the lower 
ford was at Mulberry Street — landed on a 
wide gravel bar just beyond the north- 
eastern limits of the Park, and following 
the north bank of the river, came into 



Glimpses of Yesterday, 1 1 7 

town by the old soap factory at the foot 
of Mill Street. 

In May, 1804, Humphrey Fullerton 
bought the Zane section of six hundred 
and forty acres, for (what seems now to 
its owners) the paltry sum of $5192 ; and 
his negro man, "Fullerton's Jack," ran the 
ferry-boat. On January 27, 1807, the 
Ohio legislature appointed Samuel Fin- 
ley, Duncan McArthur, Isaac Cook, Will- 
iam Creighton, John Carlisle, John Kerr, 
George Renick, Nathaniel Massie, and 
Nathaniel Willis commissioners, '* to raise, 
by way of lottery, a sum not exceeding 
$12,050 for improving the banks of the 
Scioto, and establishing a ferry." They 
were to give bond for $100,000, to publish 
the drawing in the Chillicothe and Steu- 
benville papers, and to complete the draw- 
ing in ninety days after the ist day of 
June, 1808 : then an act was passed to ex- 
tend the drawing to 1809 ; and another 
act, repealing all previous acts, and divid- 
ing the lottery into " three classes," and ex- 



1 1 8 Che-Le- Co- The, 



tending the time to the i st of June, 1 8 1 2 ; 
and not to realize more than fifteen per 
cent, on the whole number of prizes sold. 
Humphrey Fullerton's name, which is 
found in most of the enterprises about 
that time, does not appear in this, and it 
is supposed that he was either opposed to 
lotteries, or that he was absent looking 
after his extensive interests elsewhere. 
But previous to this, an act had been 
passed on February 19, 18 10, authorizing 
Humphrey Fullerton and Nathaniel Mas- 
sie to build a toll bridge, provided **they 
own the land on the shores," and to de- 
mand tolls named in the act from six and a 
quarter cents for foot passengers, on up 
to fifty cents for four-wheel vehicles drawn 
by two horses or oxen, and seventy-five 
cents if drawn by four horses or oxen. 
Fullerton and Massie did not build the 
bridge under this act ; and, on June 14, 
1812, there was passed an act, to revive 
an act to raise money by lottery and to 
extend time of drawing to 18 14. Evi- 



Glimpses of Yesterday. 1 1 9 

dently the lottery scheme had not proved 
a success, and on February 15, 1815, 
Humphrey Fullerton, John CarHsle, John 
McLandburgh, J. W. and Joseph Miller, 
Sr., or any three of them, were empowered 
to build a bridge (O. L. 13, p. 132), etc., 
** provided navigation shall not be ob- 
structed or fording impeded, and give 
bond for $10,000 before the first Monday 
in October, else privileges shall cease." 
So, in 18 16- 1 7, the bridge was built. 

Through the kindness of Mr. George 
Wolfe, we quote from the Scioto Gazette, 
dated November 6, 181 7 : 

" We are gratified to inform our readers 
that this elegant structure is now ready 
for travellers and the public generally — 
for a few days past foot passengers have 
crossed ; toll will be required from this 
day. For beauty of construction it is 
equalled by few in the United States. We 
trust the proprietors will be amply remun- 
erated for the expense they have been at, 
after the heavy loss sustained last year " 



1 2 o Che-Le- Co- The, 



— referring doubtless to the partial loss of 
the first span, which was carried away by 
high water, before its completion. 

The bridge as built by the company 
had but two spans of one hundred and 
fifty feet each, level with the high bank on 
the town side. Each span had three 
arched trusses, twelve feet four inches 
apart, forming a double roadway. Each 
arch was made of ten layers of 3 xi clinch 
oak, in long lengths breaking joints ; each 
layer spiked to the one below at intervals 
of about two feet with seven-inch iron 
spikes, and the ten thicknesses were bolted 
together every five feet with i x i inch 
square wrought iron bolts. (See Illustra- 
tion No. 2.) Its northern end rested on 
a dressed stone pier, twenty-nine feet 
above the usual stage of water ; and from 
this ran a trestle nearly as long as the 
bridge itself to the Zane road that ran 
down to the ferry. 

Mrs. Susan Wolfe and Mrs. Caroline 
Davis say it was a favorite drive to cross 



Glimpses of Yesterday, 121 

the bridge, turn to the left through the 
dense woods, cross the river at the upper 
ford, and come into town by Mill Street. 
Just below this ford, the high waters had 
cut a small channel south, through the 
heels of the horse shoe ; which it is said 
was enlarged and deepened in 181 9-20 by 
the owners of the land, and of the bridge, 
as the good fording at that point diverted 
travel from the bridge. But when the 
dreaded malaria stalked abroad in 182 1, 
and the water around the old channel be- 
came stagnant, money was raised by sub- 
scription from the citizens, and a dam of 
logs, brush, and stone built to turn the 
water back to the town. 

Nathaniel Cutright and Robert Veail, 
now living, rode the horses to haul the 
brush and logs. The floods in the winter 
and spring of 1822 swept out the dam, 
and the water ever since has chosen that 
way to run down to the sea ; and when 
the boats, loaded with flour and grain, 
came down from Yellow Bud, and Worth- 



12 2 Che-Le- Co- The. 



ington's mill on the Kinnicklnnick, they 
would often take the short cut. One John 
Cook, as helmsman of Bob Harvey's boat, 
hesitated ; but not wishing to take a dare 
from those on the bank, tried it, saying — 

** D if I won't go through " ; and from 

that day to this, in low water, you can 
see a part of the stanchion and plank of 
that sunken boat nearly covered with 
gravel, to testify to what a ' dare " may 
do. From the old hulk, we used to dive 
and fish, but there is no hole there now, 
the channel being filled up, and the cur- 
rent going farther east. 

The county commissioners bought the 
bridge in 1827, for about $19,250, declar- 
ing it free to the citizens of the town, and 
some time afterwards, it was made free 
to every body. Very little information in 
regard to this purchase can be obtained 
by inquiry, or by diligent search of the 
county records ; but it was evidently paid 
for on long time, and in part script ; for 
as late as June, 1833, Wm. Waddle, Uncle 



Glimpses of Yesterday, 123 

of the late Doctor William Waddle, as 
administrator of John Waddle, received 
$2000 in part payment of two shares, 
Wm. Carson $1000 in part payment of 
one share, and Alex. Waddle, in 1834, 
$696.67 in full to June the 8th. 

The Zanesville & Maysville Turnpike 
was incorporated on March 7, 1839, thirty- 
nine persons named, capital stock $600, 
000 ; and to this Company, the bridge was 
sold, or thought to be sold, on the 15th of 
June, 1838, for the sum of $12,000, ''citi- 
zens of Ross County forever to pass with- 
out payment of toll, provided the citizens 
pay one-fourth expenses of repairs." The 
Zanesville & Maysville turnpike company 
built the north abutment, and the third 
span, and graded seventeen rods of road 
at the north end ; and all was completed 
in the Henry Clay campaign, in the fall 
of 1844. 

The heavy two-inch iron rods, together 
with the spikes and nails were fashioned 
by the trip-hammer and by hand — some 



1 2 4 Che-Le- Co- The. 



of the rods showing several pieces of iron 
welded together. In 1887 these rods 
were tested by the Keystone Bridge Com- 
pany, under the direction of Professor 
Brown of the Ohio State University. 
The tests showed that the ends " squeezed 
almost flat — more like lead — they bent 
1 80° without cracks or open scarfs at bend." 
Cloninger & Co., an old firm in Pittsburgh, 
furnished the iron ; and George Haynes 
the grandfather of the family living in the 
county, did most of the blacksmith work. 
It is said that he afterwards boasted that 
he had made twelve cents a lick. He 
made wrought nails also, and sold them 
at twenty-five cents per pound, and turned 
out ten pounds per day. 

The bridge stood the wear and tear of 
weather and floods with few repairs until 
1863. A flood then brought down a big 
Sycamore tree, roots and all, which lodged 
on the square face of the second pier, caus- 
ing the rushing waters to undermine its up 
stream end, until it settled westward about 



Glimpses of Yesterday. 125 

sixteen inches, of course carrying the super- 
structure in that direction. In conse- 
quence of this, on December 11, 1863, 
the county commissioners ordered Wm. 
Welsh, a member of the board, to employ a 
civil engineer, and to report damages ; " It 
is pronounced unsafe, and the title to the 
bridge unsettled, same is ordered rebuilt 
at expense of county ; not releasing the 
Zanesville & Maysville Turnpike to pay 
its three-fourths liability." Major Welsh 
and Lewis T. Sifford, engineer and 
county surveyor, built a coffer dam, 
pumped and removed the sand from the 
lower end of the pier, and let it slowly and 
carefully adjust itself to a level. With 
lifting jacks and pulleys, they raised and 
righted the superstructure, and repaired 
damages. This was regarded as a piece 
of good engineering and each received, as 
he deserved, credit for the same, from his 
partisans ; as one was a staunch Repub- 
lican, and the other a rock bound Demo- 
crat. 



126 Cke-Le- Co- The, 



The expense of these repairs amounted 
to $7868.60, the old material selling for 
$400. A demand was made on the 
Zanesville & Maysville Company to pay 
up the three-fourths of this repair money, 
agreeable to the supposed sale made in 
1838. As the Company did not respond 
promptly, Allen G. Thurman, attorney 
for the county, jumped the slow processes 
of the lower courts, and brought suit "in 
mandamus " in the Supreme Court, alleg- 
ing, that — '' Zanesville & Maysville Com- 
pany, by an instrument filed September, 
i860, did try to get rid of, and pretend to 
release said bridge." The case was decided 
against him at the December term of the 
court in 1865. For this service he re- 
ceived four hundred dollars, and Alfred 
Yaple, one hundred. From this time on, 
as no deed, though tendered, had been 
accepted, the bridge in its old age, like 
Japheth in his youth, went in search of a 
father. 

It is interesting to trace the efforts of 



Glimpses of Yesterday, 127 

the county commissioners to get back 
three-fourths of that repair money. 
Judge Wm. H. Safford was employed to 
bring suit again, and after going through 
the lower courts, it was taken to the Su- 
preme Court, and thrown out, in 1867, for 
want of summons — a technicality. He 
having been, in the meantime, elected 
Judge of the Common Pleas, and being 
on the bench, S. L. Wallace and Arch. 
Mayo as attorneys for the county, brought 
suit in the Common Pleas Court in March, 
1870, and after motions and counter mo- 
tions, and the law's delay, Wm. T. Mc- 
Clintick and Amos Smith as attorneys for 
the Turnpike, filed an answer in Novem- 
ber, 1872, asserting among many other 
things, that the commissioners were not 
seized of the property they tried to convey 
in 1838, as the toll house and the land on 
which it stood belonged to one Joseph 
Shepherd — and that the repairs we have 
made on the bridge were altogether vol- 
untary. And thus after ten years of liti- 



128 Che-Le- Co- The, 



gation, the Court decides that the demurrer 
is not well taken, and the case dismissed 
at costs of Plaintiffs, the County. 

We cannot follow all the quirks and 
twists of the case of these subtle and con- 
tentious lawyers, which ended in 1873, 
but some of their claims, to you and to 
me, seem as broad as Shepherd's '' toll 
house" door, and as deep as the ''well" 
that was built up in the first abutment of 
the bridge from which travellers in early 
days, and also the first toll-gate keeper, 
drew water from the bottom of the river 
for man and beast. This well was in the 
east end of the abutment, and after the 
bridge became free, was inclosed in Shep- 
herd's lot, and finally abandoned and filled 
up in the sixties. 

Thus, then, we find the bridge, the 
first long span structure of the kind 
west of the Alleghany mountains ; it was 
a credit to the enterprise of the founders 
of the town, or of any time or peoples, 
when we consider their remoteness from 



Glimpses of Yesterday, \ 29 

iron mills and skilled labor, and all of the 
difficulties to be surmounted. It was roofed 
with shingles, boarded up at the sides, 
lighted only from the open ends, and by 
two small windows, 2x4, on the east 
side. Until after the seventies, two 
small lanterns gave an uncertain light 
during the night. The shade of the roof 
and the breeze that swept through in 
summer, were grateful to tired horse and 
man. It was a halting-place in showers, 
and for country girls to adjust their bon- 
nets and back hair before entering the 
big city — for boys to climb over the big 
arches to the roof, and drop pebbles, and 
shout to frighten horses and men below. 
But when the floods came, everybody 
from town walked or ran through to the 
north side, to see the spread of waters for 
a mile that came rushing over bottom 
lands, fences, and trees ; and to listen 
to its gurgling, as it passed under the 
bridge, scolding the big piers as obstacles 
to its wilful way. So far as is known, the 



1 30 Che-Le- Co- The, 



bridge itself has witnessed no murder or 
suicide, but its portals have been sprinkled 
with the blood of many a sinner. 

" It finally had to give way to modern 
ideas and to the Iron age." Stripped of 
its covering and floor, it was found that 
the hard old timbers were so bound and 
joined together, they could not be cut, 
sawed, or wrenched apart ; so holes were 
bored in the crown of the arches, and in 
the middle of the lower cords, and filled 
with coal oil, then following, as a last re- 
sort, the fashion of the wild Indian (who 
coming back to the scenes of his child- 
hood had looked in wonder at its building), 
fagots were piled up and set on fire ; thus 
it was burned down. The Scioto Gazette 
of August 9, 1886, says *'The north span 
burned Saturday and the south span Mon- 
day night, falling at twenty three minutes 
before ten. A large crowd was present 
as the arches falling, swayed gracefully 
down stream. Thousands since its fall 
have visited the site, and every one car- 



Glimpses of Yesterday, 131 

ried away some souvenirs — spikes, nails, 
and pieces of wood." The spikes, nickle 
plated, can be found in many houses, and 
are often used as paper-weights on the 
desks of ladies, clerks, and lawyers. 

The present iron bridge was completed 
in the fall of 1886. The old piers were 
lengthened, and built up about two feet, 
so that the floor of the present bridge is 
about thirty-three feet above the usual 
water level. During its construction, a 
pontoon bridge, three hundred feet long, 
was used for crossing the river at the foot 
of Hickory Street. 

Now go down there late some bright 
July evening, and standing over the big 
pier, face to the west, you will see a sheet 
of light reflected from the white gravel on 
the bar, a baby carriage, and little girls 
in bright gowns throwing pebbles in the 
water ; three cows knee deep, red and 
white, with their tails switching rainbow 
drops in the air ; the railroad train going 
west as if running for life ; the puff of 



1 3 2 Che-L e- Co- The, 



smoke from the power house on the bank 
of the river, the engine at each stroke 
sending gallons of river water to the Balti- 
more & Ohio South Western R. R. sup- 
ply tank half a mile away ; and farther on, 
catch the declining sun, as his face is cut in 
half by the range of hills on which stand 
the houses of our dead Governors, Mc- 
Arthur, Worthington, and Allen ; turning 
to the northwest, you will see through the 
vista of the sycamore trees, the smoke- 
stack of Marfield's mill, and, in the dis- 
tance, the '* Egypt Hills," nearer by, the 
little log cabin, with clothes hung out to 
dry, which housed the first ferryman in 
1802 ; and, in the depression between the 
long levee and the higher ground to the 
right, a field representative of the fertility 
of our valley. It is so covered with shocks 
of wheat, that the load seems too much to 
bear, and the hurrying teams and steam 
thresher are apparently making haste to 
get it off, lest it sink to China. Turn 
quickly to the east, while the Norfolk & 



Glimpses of Yesterday. 



^IZ 



Westerruns the long train over its iron 
bridge, ;d you will see the base of Mount 
Logan most in night ; then follow the 
deep shiow as it climbs the mountain's 
side ; theun is now lost behind the Paint 
Creek lis, but the bald head of old 
Logan, ill in light, will quickly nod, and 
'Meave ti world to darkness and to you." 







T 



THE METHODIST CHURH. 

IN the tide of emigration to the^orth- 
west in 1796, many Methodis were 
to be found. Among those whoame to 
Chillicothe I may mention Dr.Edward 
Tiffin and his wife Mary Wonington, 
Thomas Scott, Dr. McAdow, Thomas 
Hinds, who built the two-stcy brick 
house now occupied by Mrs. Pbbe Mc- 
Kell, Hector Sanford, Dr. Willm Mc- 
Dowell, James McClintick, John htt and 
his relatives the Diblers, and Danl Ma- 
deira, father of Colonel John Madea. 

Having no church building,^ serices 
were temporarily held in a log houston 
lower Water Street. In 1807, ^ chu:h 
was built, but, unfortunately, it was burnd 
in 1820. Here let me quote from Bisho 
134 



Glimpses of Yesterday, 135 

Asbury's diary published in New York in 
182 1. '' Sat. Sept. 24, 1803, at Chillicothe. 
Preached in the State House to about ^v^ 
hundred hearers; again in 1805 preached 
at ChilHcothe ; entertained again by Gov. 
Tiffin. Friday Sept. 4, 1807 came to 
Chillicothe, and preached in our neat, 
new house to a large congregation. On 
Monday we opened Conference, sitting 
till Friday noon. In 1808, I was invited 
to spend the night under the hospitable 
roof of General Thomas Worthington, 
within sight of which lies the precious 
dust of Mary Tiffin. In 1809, D^- Tiffin 
received us kindly, and after dinner we 
rode on to White Brown's." In 18 14, we 
find him staying with Senator Worthing- 
ton from the 24th to the 30th of Sept. 
" Mrs. Worthington has taught her boys 
and girls, servants, and children to read 
the Holy Scriptures and they are well in- 
structed. Neither of the heads of this 
household have attached themselves to 
any Church." In 1820 or thereabouts. 



136 Che-Le- Co- The. 



Senator VVorthington joined the Metho- 
dist Church, Mrs. Worthington had al- 
ready become a Presbyterian, though both 
had been brought up in the Episcopal 
Church. Many eminent preachers have 
been connected with the Methodist Church 
of Chillicothe. John F. Wright occupied 
the pulpit from 1824-5, Joseph McDowell 
Mathews, from 1 830-1, John Miley from 
1 84 1-2. Joseph M. Trimble served the 
Church as stationed preacher and elder, 
and his brother. Dr. Carey Trimble, was 
always a prominent member, as was also 
Presley Morris. 

This second church was afterwards 
burned, and another edifice was erected 
on the same site, on Second Street be- 
tween Paint and Walnut Streets on the 
corner of the alley. It is now occupied 
as a livery stable. The two-story brick 
building was perfectly plain and without 
ornament, as became a Church preaching 
the doctrine of its great founder, Wesley. 
The doors — double ones — with old fash- 



Gli7npses of Yesterday, 137 

ioned latches, were in the south end ; the 
pulpit and altar were directly opposite in 
the north end, and a gallery ran round 
the east, west, and south sides. The seats 
were as plain as they well could be, and 
the building was heated by large stoves. 
The neat yard in front was surrounded 
by a high board fence, and a brick paved 
walk led up to the doors. 

The congregation was very large and 
contained some of our most prominent 
citizens, and many great revivals resulted 
from their labors. In these revival ser- 
vices, the minister was always the central 
figure, but many of the lay members were 
in active service, and some of the attend- 
ants will recall the kind face of old Father 
Pleasant Thurman, as he moved about 
among the mourners. He sat in the 
space set apart for workers at the altar. 
His wife was a sister of Governor Allen, 
and was, like him, tall and slender. They 
had two daughters, Maria, who died in 
early womanhood, and Henrietta who 



138 Che-Le- Co- The. 



married Mr. Reimensnyder. Their only 
son was Allen G. Thurman, the history 
of whose distinguished career is known to 
every one. Dr. Joseph Dunlap, Squire 
Thomas Orr, and Jacob S. Atwood, were 
also prominent men in the Church. Judge 
James McClintick was another class 
leader. His native modesty and gentle 
manner prevented him from taking as 
active a part as some others, but whoever 
looked into his benevolent countenance 
could not fail to be impressed with the 
thought, that religion was to him a vital 
reality. 

Mr. George Armstrong was also de- 
voted to this his Church, and Mr. English, 
the father of Mrs. Schutte, was one of 
the honored veterans. The Cook family. 
Squire John J. Robinson, Mr. John Reed, 
Mr. Wm. McKell, Dr. McAdow, and Mr. 
Joshua Evans were all active members. 

An amusing incident used to be told of 
the last named gentleman. He had been 
very ill, and at an experience meeting 



Glimpses of Yesterday. 139 

spoke of his feeble health, and mentioned 
that this might be the last occasion on 
which he would ever address them. Just 
at this point a brother who had been 
wrapped in his own reflections, unthink- 
ingly uttered a loud, ** Thank God," which 
caused the speaker to drop meekly into 
his seat. 

One of the features of the church was 
"old Barbour," the sexton, whose stern 
eye preserved order throughout the con- 
gregation. He was a holy terror to the 
thoughtless, and not a whisper or a look 
seemed to escape his notice. 

The church is gone from the old place. 
Nearly all the worshippers of that time 
are gone too, and though, under the new 
regime, two handsome churches and much 
fashionable attire have displaced the plain 
room and sober Methodist dress, the old 
spirit and principles will continue to live 
in the hearts of those who have come 
after them. 



TO A GROUP OF MAIDENS. 

A CLUSTER beautiful and gay 
Attired in maidenly array, 
In satin gowns of richest sheen, 
And radiant pearls befit a queen. 

With lockets, combs, and fans galore 
Worn by the stately dames of yore 

Whose beauty, charms, and sparkling wit, 
They, to these maidens did commit. 

While looking in each sep'rate face 
The cherished lineaments we trace, 

Reveal'd in portraits on the walls 
Of those from dear ancestral halls. 

Sweet sunshine lurks in eyes and hair 
As in dear grandmamma's so fair, 

On lips and cheeks the roses glow 
Of those who died long, long ago. 

Why this forgetfulness of care 

Which hovers o'er this group so fair ? 
140 




STAIRWAY IN THE FULLERTOX HOMESTEAD. 



Glimpses of Yesterday. 141 

Like chisell'd marble, each sweet face, 
As sculptured flowers, steeped with grace. 

O potent spirit, touch the spring, 

Re-animate these souls again, 
Wake hope and joy, in laughing eyes 

And rouse them — from their reveries ! 



THE ACADEMY. 

EARLY in the century, the ChilHco- 
the Academy had a name and a 
place. Its founders wished to make it a 
first class institution of its kind, and of 
sufficient proportion to accommodate a 
great number of students, and to this end 
they secured a large plot of ground on 
South Paint Street, and located the build- 
ing in the centre of the block. It was a 
beautiful site, and the house erected was 
quite an ornament to the town ; few pub- 
lic buildings in any of the adjacent towns 
could compare with it. 

The Academy was two stories in height, 

seventy or seventy-five feet long by forty 

or forty-five feet wide, surmounted by a 

cupola or dome, in which was hung a 

142 



Glifnpscs of Yesterday, 1 43 

good sized bell. The stories were sub- 
divided into recitation rooms ; the room 
above the entrance was used for the ap- 
paratus intended for scientific studies. 
This was very good, and consisted of 
large celestial and terrestrial globes, an 
orrery or planetarium, a fine, large tele- 
scope, other smaller instruments, and sev- 
eral maps. 

The result of erecting such a building 
was soon apparent in the increased num- 
ber of people attracted to the town, mak- 
ing it their abode for life. Our fathers 
had no such end in view, however, when 
they built the Academy, it was simply an 
evidence of the estimate they put upon 
education. 

Many of those who graduated from this 
seat of learning, in after life attained to 
eminence and occupied high places in the 
halls of Congress, the Legislature, the 
Judiciary, and other prominent offices ; 
others entered the different professions, 
and still others became honorable and 



1 44 Che-L e- Co- The, 



useful merchants, mechanics, and husband- 
men. 

Some of those who were fast friends of 
the Academy, and who gave countenance 
to it as long as they lived, were the 
Creightons, the Walkes, Waddles, Ren- 
icks, McCoys, McClinticks, Carsons, 
Fullertons, Thurmans, McLandburghs, 
McArthurs, Worthingtons, Douglasses, 
Jameses, McDougals, Robinsons, Mc- 
Leans, Gilmores, and hosts of others too 
numerous to mention. The Academy con- 
tinued to prosper for some time after its 
completion, and its founders could boast 
with pride of its success. The early teach- 
ers were then exchanged for others, and the 
Rev. Mr. McFarland took charge of the 
classical department. He held the posi- 
tion for some time, yielding it at length 
to Mr. Claybaugh, pastor of the Associate 
Reformed Church. The, largest room in 
the building was reserved for those who 
were studying the English language, and 
under the superintendence of Mr. D. W. 



Glimpses of Yesterday. 145 

Hearn, the classes were brought forward 
from the elementary to the higher grades. 

Webster's Spelling Book, Walker's Dic- 
tionary, Morse's Geography, Pike's Arith- 
metic, Murray's Grammar, and other books 
of like character were used for years, but 
are now displaced by those of a different 
style, more modern, in fact, though prob- 
ably no better suited to make good schol- 
ars than those of the olden time. The 
outlook of those educational works did 
not extend much beyond the time of their 
publication, or shed light upon the changes 
likely to occur in the world's history, not 
even in that of our own country. They 
seem to have expected that the Missis- 
sippi would be always the western bound- 
ary of the United States, and all beyond 
that was the great Western Desert ; per- 
haps it never entered into the head of 
Mr. Hearn that there could be anything 
different ; if so, he never taught his pupils 
to expect a change. 

The school hours in summer were from 



1 46 Che-Le- Co- The, 



eight o'clock in the morning until six in 
the afternoon, allowing one hour for in- 
termission at noon, and fifteen minutes 
recess in the morning and afternoon. The 
noon hour was always improved by Mr. 
Hearn in writing copies in the copy-books 
of the scholars, and in making pens for 
their use, out of quills, with the very 
sharp pen-knife he always carried. From 
early morning to late in the evening, he 
continued the recitations ; his was a hercu- 
lean task as he was obliged to adapt him- 
self to such a variety of minds, and to so 
many different studies ; graded schools 
had not then dawned on the school-mas- 
ter, but the faithfulness of his labor is 
shown in the results which followed, as 
well as in the pride with which many have 
proclaimed that their education was ac- 
quired in the old Academy. 

In Mr. Hearn's time, the old proverb 
was the first article of faith of a compe- 
tent instructor, and his pupils were not 
spoiled by being spared the rod ; he kept 



Glimpses of Yesterday. 147 

a goodly supply of rods on his desk, and 
well knew how to apply them. Mr. 
Hearn in his early years was very quick- 
tempered, and when excited, his punish- 
ments were apt to be severe — in the 
present day they would be called cruel. 
In person he was tall and slender, with 
very dark hair and complexion ; his ex- 
pression was severe, though he had a 
gentle voice and a smooth manner, which 
were rather at variance with his reputa- 
tion. He had a wart or mole on his 
forehead, just above his nose, that was 
almost as large as a good sized straw- 
berry, and the boys insisted that they 
could tell when he was losing his temper 
and that the mole would change color 
and become very red. This may have 
been imaginary, but the boys believed it 
firmly. In the later years of his life his 
disposition was very much changed ; he 
gained such control over his temper that 
he became pleasant and even affable, — 
and was often seen on the playgrounds 



1 48 Che-Le- Co- The. 



witnessing the sport of the boys and 
girls, and encouraging them in their 
wrestHng and racing. 

Space being no object, what magnifi- 
cent grounds for play and exercise were 
afforded the scholars ! Boys and girls in 
city schools can have no idea of the size 
of playgrounds given to youngsters in 
early times. Baseball was unknown then, 
but ** town ball " was one of the favorite 
sports of the boys. '* Fives" was another 
game that was exceedingly popular, and 
as soon as school was over, the ball was 
kept in continual motion until dark, and 
sometimes later. 

Oftentimes, young men from town 
would stroll down to the Academy, and 
assist the students in their plays and 
sports, and the gratification of the boy of 
the olden time, fully equalled that of the 
present day, when honored with such 
notice from those of maturer years. Of 
*' the boys," very few are left, but to the 
remnant, those days are still most bright, 



Gli7npses of Yesterday, 149 

most golden to look back upon. Time has 
long since eliminated all that was hard or 
disagreeable, and, "■ Oh, don't you remem- 
ber the school, Ben Bolt," never fails to 
awaken a responsive thrill in at least one 
of the hearts that beat in *' The Old 
Academy." 




-^^^ 


MM 




^:Ca<^^&Epi 




^<^^>0: 



THE THIRD PRESBYTERIAN 
CHURCH. 

THE Associate Reform Church was 
organized in 1806, its first Session 
being composed of James Taylor, Hugh 
Ghormley, and Wm. Carson ; the first 
trustees consisted of Humphrey Fullerton 
and John McLandburgh. The distin- 
guishing features of this organization 
were *' the exclusive use of the Psalms of 
David in the worship of God without the 
accompaniment of any musical instrument," 
a disapproval of human slavery as prac- 
tised in this land, and " close " communion. 
The first house of worship was a plain 
structure known as the Bank Alley 
Church, because its entrance was from 
the Bank alley — the same that is now the 
eastern boundary of the Masonic Opera 
150 



Glimpses of Yesterday. 1 5 1 

House. It was much like the other 
churches of that day, except that to the 
high pulpit above the minister's head was 
added a sounding board, which enabled 
the congregation to hear distinctly every 
word he uttered. This pulpit was a two- 
story structure painted white, and was so 
high that the preacher could easily touch 
the ceiling ; there were two chandeliers in 
the middle aisle made of tin, and arranged 
with branches for holding six tallow 
candles each ; two smaller ones hung 
near the pulpit. 

Regular services were maintained from 
the time of organization, though the first 
pastor, the Rev. Samuel Crothers, was 
not installed until 181 1 ; he was succeeded 
to the pastorate by the Rev. Joseph Clay- 
baugh. As they had educated the latter 
for the ministry, when the pulpit became 
vacant, their choice naturally fell upon 
him, and as he was greatly beloved, much 
sorrow was felt when he accepted a Chair 
of Theology at Miami University. 



152 Che-Le- Co- The, 



The Bank Alley Church was abandoned 
in 1832 for a new edifice on Main Street, 
the site of the present church. In this 
church there was quite a space between 
the pulpit and the pews, which w^as used 
for the communion tables ; before the 
service these were stretched across the 
space, and were covered with long snowy 
cloths of the finest damask. Each mem- 
ber of the church was expected to attend 
preparatory service, at which time small 
leaden '* tokens " were distributed to those 
who were to commune, and on coming to 
the tables on the Sabbath these were 
given as evidence of their eligibility. 

Miss Baskerville was a notable figure 
in the old days, as she walked with stately 
steps to one of the front seats. 

In her love of fresh air, she annoyed 
Mr. Hearne by opening the window. He 
would arise and close it. She invariably 
opened it again, until, finally, the trustees 
ended the dissension, by inserting a tin 
pane, with hinges, which the lady could 
open at will. 



Glimpses of Yesterday, 153 

This edifice was demolished to make 
way for a handsome Gothic structure, 
which was built in 1850, and was des- 
troyed by fire on April 2, 1857. The 
walls were so substantial, that, having 
an insurance of $7000 which Mr. Mc- 
Cague had placed on the building at his 
own expense, the congregation rebuilt 
on the same plan, using the old walls. 

In 1843, the Rev. Wm. Finley was 
called to the Church ; he was beloved 
by the whole community and was princi- 
pal of the Academy in its palmy days. 
He was succeeded by the Rev. Wm. H. 
Prestley, and during his ministry, the 
Church, which had been generally, though 
erroneously, known as the '' Seceder 
Church," decided to withdraw from the 
United Presbyterian Synod and to join the 
Synod of the Old School Church. This 
was done in 1868. The Session consisted 
of the Rev. Prestley, Thos. Ghormley, 
Peter Platter, Joseph W. McCague, James 
T. Bonner, and James Thompson. 

Mr. Prestley accepted a call to a west- 



154 Che-Le- Co- The, 



ern church in 1875, and was followed by 
J. O. Pierce ; he in turn was succeeded 
by the Rev. Robert Galbreath, the pres- 
ent pastor of the church. 

The old people are gone ! The Plat- 
ters, the McLandburghs, the Welshs, 
the Fullertons, the Carsons, Bonners, 
McDowells, Johnsons, McCommons, 
Taggarts, Mr. Hearn, Miss Baskerville, 
the Dicksons and many others. All are 
gone — and though others fill their places, 
and new faces are seen In their accustomed 
pews, their memory is fondly cherished 
and many a heart recalls tenderly and 
lovingly the noble men and women who 
loved that church in '' the days that are 
no more." 




MARY BASKERYILLE, 



m^mmm 



MISS BASKERVILLE. 

ASIDE from parental guidance, per- 
haps no greater educational influ- 
ence was exerted in the Chillicothe of 
old, than by Miss Baskerville, in the little 
schoolhouse where she held birchen sway 
over three generations of girlhood. 

Miss Baskerville never confided her 
personal history to her acquaintances at 
large, consequently, little is known be- 
yond the fact that she, a young Vir- 
ginian, came alone to Chillicothe, and 
established a school for young girls and 
children ; perhaps she was actuated more 
by caprice than by necessity ; but for 
more than half a century she lived in the 
community, with a name above reproach, 
honored by the respect of all, and by 
155 



156 Che-Le- Co- The, 



the affectionate regard of many. With 
a character strongly marked by eccen- 
tricity, she was yet full of earnest, noble 
purpose, and was faithful in the discharge 
of every duty ; she was religious, but 
without bigotry or ostentation. Though 
of Huguenot descent, as her name indi- 
cates, she was yet most proud of the 
Pocahontas blood which mingled with 
that of her French ancestry. 

Her old pupils could well remember 
the visits of Captain Johnny, an Indian 
Chief, to whom she always showed the 
greatest deference and courtesy. He and 
his followers never went away empty 
handed, but bore as gifts to the papooses 
of his tribe, ownerless school-books, and 
many a glittering gewgaw. Those care- 
less girls, who thought more of comfort 
than of complexion and discarded the 
hated sun-bonnets, will especially remem- 
ber the threat of being sent with Captain 
Johnny to join the aforesaid papooses. 

Miss Baskerville was thorough in all 



Glimpses of Yesterday. 1 5 7 

she attempted ; in spelling, reading, and 
writing she had no equal as a teacher ; 
she began with the infant novice at her 
knee, and pointed on the outspread 
primer from Antelope to Zebra. 

Innovation she could not tolerate — 
Noah Webster, as the mutilator of his 
mother tongue, was her abomination ; 
Walker's Dictionary, Pickett's Spelling 
Book, Murray's Grammar, Pike's Arith- 
metic, Adam's Geography, Blair's Rhet- 
oric, Ty tier's History, with Milton for 
parsing ; — these were her text-books, in 
addition to the good old English reader, 
with its introduction and sequel. 

Propriety of dress and deportment, she 
also carefully inculcated ; with what pro- 
phetic vision she congratulated or pitied 
the prospective husbands of these incipient 
housewives. In her mind's eye, she could 
see the dusty furniture, unswept hearth, 
and ill-cooked dinner, presided over by an 
unkempt mistress, and again in another 
household, perhaps the broom would be 



158 Che-Le- Co- The. 



covertly hiding its hastily gathered treas- 
ures behind a convenient door. 

Her own perfect needle-work made her 
intolerant of failure in others, and when 
forbidden thread knots were discovered, 
no tears could save the guilty little seam- 
stress, stitch by stitch it must be all 
ripped ; or if too long a thread was taken, 
the blunder was exaggerated, and a school- 
mate appointed to carry the needle back 
and forth at each stitch with its six feet 
length of thread ; in fact, ridicule was one 
of her most powerful weapons, which she 
wielded not only against her pupils, but 
over their innocent shoulders she casti- 
gated the faults and follies of society at 
large. 

In person Miss Baskerville was tall, 
erect, and majestic ; she realized in her 
air and costume the ideal of the Maiden 
Queen ; she always wore the Elizabethan 
ruff, and close clustering curls, and surely 
Queen Bess never sat her throne more 
majestically than our stately schooldame 



Glimpses of Yesterday. 159 



the simple, high-backed chair whence she 
governed her little realm ; her step of 
dignified precision gained effect from the 
high-heeled and buckled shoes that she 
always wore ; her dress, winter and sum- 
mer, was of purest white, unrelieved, save 
by confining belt and buckle and the 
dependent chain and seals of her heavy 
gold watch. 

The new-fangled words " recess," "• term," 
and "■ vacation" were not in her vocabu- 
lary — she taught by the old-fashioned 
*' quarter," with holidays only on Christ- 
mas or the Fourth of July. 

The daily routine of six hours was 
broken only by the noon intermission, 
long or short, according to the season, 
and sometimes she sent weary little crea- 
tures to be refreshed by a frolic on "the 
green " (as she always called the grass 
plot). 

No copper-plate relieved this untiring 
teacher ; home-made copy-books of fools- 
cap paper were daily ruled by her, and 



1 60 Che-Le- Co- The. 



copies set in her own beautiful *' round 
hand " characters ; the oil goose-quill she 
made and mended between the recitations, 
and such was her skill in this department, 
that her old scholars often came to have 
her trim the goose-quill which wafted their 
first love letter ; such a missive she was 
never known to send, though her favorite 
reward offered to good girls, was a jesting 
promise that they might go to her wed- 
ding. 

The little frame school-house on Second 
Street had, originally, two rooms and a 
porch. The two rooms were thrown into 
one, having a fireplace at each end ; the 
south fireplace was furnished with a 
Franklin stove, which in winter was filled 
with blazing hickory logs, and in summer 
with blooming flowers ; in the north end 
of the room stood the little mahogany 
table, at which Miss Baskerville sat, facing 
rows of benches, which held her two score 
of scholars. 

On one side of the fireplace was the 



Glimpses of Yesterday. i6i 

deep wood closet ; on the other an old 
dresser held copy-books, cracked slates, 
and various waifs and strays ; under the 
four western windows was extended the 
writing-desk ; on the opposite wall was a 
double row of pegs, on which hung the 
shawls and sunbonnets ; on the triangular 
shelf behind the back door stood a veri- 
table oaken bucket, always filled with cool 
water ; to fill this pail was a privilege 
accorded in turn to the frolic-loving girls. 
To hold the door open, and to serve as a 
whetstone for slate pencils, was a piece of 
boulder that lay in the same corner for 
thirty years. 

Two of Miss Baskerville's contempo- 
raries were eminent members of the bar ; 
they were as unique as herself, living, too, 
in a state of single blessedness and both 
were avowed woman-haters. She amused 
herself and annoyed them by quoting 
them on the most trivial occasions, and by 
holding their pretended opinion in ter- 
rorum over her school, — ** What would 



1 6 2 Che-Le- Co- The, 



Mr. Leonard say ? " or '* What would 
Judge Grimke think?" she frequently 
asked about things of which they would 
never have deigned to speak or even to 
think. 

Uncle Billy, an aged negro, was Miss 
Baskerville's factotum. He cut and split 
the logs, carried the keys, made fires in 
winter, and the garden in summer. The 
loft was the abode of a traditionary ghost, 
of which Uncle Billy stood in wholesome 
awe, but venturesome girls, in their ex- 
plorations of the spirit household, found 
nothing save ancient tin-ware and used 
up brooms. 

Stern and dictatorial as Miss Basker- 
ville was usually, she sometimes disclosed 
a deep well of tender feeling, unsuspected 
by the careless observer. One summer 
afternoon, a messenger came suddenly to 
the porch, and announced that William 
Sterrett was drowned ; Miss Baskerville's 
first start of incredulity and afterburst of 
grief are indescribable. The drowned 



Glimpses of Yesterday, 163 

boy was the only and beloved son of the 
household In which was her home. At 
her command, given in a broken voice, her 
little flock glided out quietly and left her 
alone ; when she met them again, she was 
clad in the first black dress they had ever 
seen her wear, and her manner was sub- 
dued into a soft tenderness, as unusual as 
her garb. 

In her later years, Miss Baskerville 
stood almost alone, her old friends had 
nearly all passed into the great Hereafter, 
leaving her to the sympathy of a new 
generation, who could not know her true 
merits and real worth ; but her memory 
will live in the annals of the old metrop- 
olis, not only as an instructress of youth, 
but as one of the characters, who, by her 
own distinctive quality was thrown into 
bold relief upon the smooth surface of 
society. 



A MEMORY. 

*' The mossy marbles rest 
On the lips that he has prest 
In their bloom — 
And the names he loved to hear 
Have been carved for many a year 
On the tomb." 

WHEN the pathos of Holmes's Ljist 
Leaf first sank into my heart, 
its quaint description touched a hidden 
spring, the golden gates of memory 
swung back, and allowed a vision of the 
**real time," when things are always just 
what they seem. The time when realities 
are all wonders, and wonders are all reali- 
ties ; when Cinderellas and Princes are 
every-day sort of people, and glass slip- 
pers, pumpkin coaches, and fairy god- 
mothers might be met with at any time. 
164 




I i i 



Glimpses of Yesterday, 165 

Through these open portals, a long vista 
of sunshiny street is disclosed (in Mem- 
ory's land it is always sunshine) and a 
square, substantial house with a high board 
fence enclosing an orchard, where blossom- 
ing trees wafted sweet odors, or showered 
shell-like petals on the passer-by. 
I The board yard next becomes visible, 
with its high piles of planks, and the little 
low house at the end, with one or two 
chairs hospitably placed at the door, and 
rarely unoccupied. The tavern beyond, 
with its sign on a high pole, and a tiny 
cupola on top, wherein dwelt the brisk 
little bell, which three times a day rang 
out its call, '' ding-a-dong," with a marked 
emphasis on the '^ dong'' 

This was the scene, — but memory scarce 
shows a picture which was merely a land- 
scape, and, still peeping through the door- 
way, I behold an elderly gentleman, of 
stiff and stately mien, his immobile face 
most granite and sphinx-like, striding 
along, looking neither to the right nor to 



1 66 Che-Le- Co- The, 



the left, taking no apparent pleasure in 
the stroll, but since he had elected to 
walk, walking solemnly and slowly, until 
the proper amount of exercise had been 
taken. His nearly white hair was brushed 
smoothly back around his head, his face, 
long, thin, sallow, with pronounced fea- 
tures and eyes that looked always straight 
ahead, was clean shaven. A stiff white 
neck-cloth encircled his throat in volu- 
minous folds, the ends tied in a most pre- 
cise little bow. The swallow-tailed coat, 
the gloved hands held stiffly straight to his 
sides, and strapped pantaloons were guilt- 
less of crease or wrinkles, and his whole 
appearance was so stiff, so mechanical, so 
wooden, as to resemble one of those fig- 
ures whose jerky motions are governed by 
machinery. 

There is a sort of Greek chorus in 
Memory's land which produces an impres- 
sion, although one has not the faintest 
idea of the source from which it emanates ; 
in some such mysterious manner, the 



Glimpses of Yesterday. 167 

knowledge reached me that this was 
Judge Grimke ; the same mysterious powder 
Informed me that he was beloved of Miss 
Baskerville's soul, a marvel never ques- 
tioned In that far-off land. 

A few paces behind Judge Grimke, In 
equally slow and stately fashion, walked 
another figure, so exactly like the first, as 
to be rather startling at first sight ; until 
a second glance revealed the likeness to be 
merely in dress and general appearance. 
The second figure was a light colored 
man, whose grizzled hair and slender 
figure, clad In cast-off garments of his mas- 
ter, — and, perhaps, an unconscious imita- 
tion of the manner of his superior, — gave, 
at first glance, an idea of a dopp el-ganger, 
or a shadow taking tangible form and 
uncannily following in the footsteps of Its 
principal. Harvey Hawes was the second 
figure, and report said that this servant 
had followed his master's fortunes, when, 
maddened by the desertion of his prom- 
ised wife, he shook the dust of his native 



1 68 Cke-Le- Co- The. 



place from his feet, and wandered forth a 
despiser of the fair sex, a woman-hater as 
he was known, to the time of his death. 
Tradition said he would never look on 
a woman's face, not even the face of a 
little girl ; but I have heard of some small 
maidens in the long ago, upon whom he 
bestowed some notice, even jocosely al- 
luding to his admirer. Miss Baskerville, 
being likely to visit tardy pupils with her 
wrath. That he was wholly unimpres- 
sionable, I am sure, for when two girls, 
whose lovely flower-like faces alone would 
have compelled a second look from an 
ordinary observer, passed him in his 
tramp, and one roguishly dropped her 
kerchief, " just to see what he would do," 
he marched stiffly on as though seeing 
neither the dainty cambric nor the fair 
maidens, thus leaving to the winsome 
owner the unaccustomed task of picking 
up her own handkerchief. 

Memory has a kaleidoscopic fashion of 
sometimes shifting the actors without dis- 
turbing the stage setting, and in one such 



Glimpses of Yesterday, 1 69 

magical change, the Httle procession van- 
ishes ; while down the roadway of the 
sunshiny street, the same figure appears 
astride a horse ; the same stiff stateliness 
and unbending dignity characterize the 
horseman that appeared in the pedes- 
trian ; no more apparent pleasure in the 
ride than in the walk ; no more interest 
in the surroundings ; gently ambling on- 
ward, the horse bears his stately rider 
beyond my ken. A last quiver of the sun- 
light; a last shower of the falling blossoms, 
and the golden gates of memory softly close. 
I do not know why the hidden spring 
was touched by the poem, for he had no 
*' three-cornered hat " nor '* knee-breeches 
and all that," only, he was so queer, and 
perchance the thought of a lonely, love- 
less old age completed the semblance of 
The Last Leaf, 

" And if I should live to be 
The last leaf upon the tree 
In the Spring, 

Let some smile, as I do now. 
On the old forgotten bough, 
Where I cling." 



ST. PAUL'S EPISCOPAL CHURCH. 

AS the history of this church bears 
relation to the whole diocese of 
Ohio, being one of the earliest, and most 
influential in the State, the founding of 
it possesses more than common interest. 
Finding that its history embraces a term 
of nearly eighty years, I shall give most 
prominence to the first period, that part 
being most appropriate for this Centen- 
nial year. For sources of information I 
have the Record of the Vestry, from its 
incipience to the present time, and some 
recent conversations with Miss Jane Luck- 
ett, whose acquaintance with the rectors 
and earliest members of the parish fur- 
nishes interesting items not otherwise 
obtainable. 

170 




ST. Paul's church, 1821. 



Glimpses of Yesterday. 171 

On the 24th of April, 181 7, divine ser- 
vice was conducted in the Court House 
by the Rev. Roger Searle of St. Peter's 
Church, Plymouth, Conn., after which a 
number of citizens met at the house of 
Mr. Richard Douglas, to take steps to 
establish a Protestant Episcopal Church. 
The constitution of the church was read 
and adopted. The Rev. R. Searle was 
appointed to the chair, and Edward King, 
secretary. A resolution was then passed 
to unite themselves into a congregation 
by the name of St. Paul's Church, Chilli- 
cothe, for the worship and service of God, 
according to the regulations of said Epis- 
copal Church. 

Signed : 

Levin Belt, William Key Bond, 

Thomas James, John Woodbridge, 

J. Barnes, William R. Southward, 

Isaac Evans, Richard Douglas, 

Henry Brush, David McComb, 

Edward King, Robert Kercheval. 



1 7 2 Cke-Le- Co- The, 



Previous to the appointment of a rec- 
tor, services were conducted by '' Reading 
Clerks," who were duly appointed. 

At a meeting in 1819, delegates to at- 
tend a convention at Worthington were 
appointed. Dr. E. Tiffin was called to 
the chair, and David Grier was chosen 
secretary ; the Reading Clerks for the 
year were Henry Brush, William Key 
Bond, Edward King, and Richard Dou- 
glas. Dr. Tiffin performed the duties of 
public divine worship, at the request of 
the vestry. If we could have kept him 
with us, we might have had his grand- 
daughters among our " Marthas and 
Marys," as they are active members in 
the Methodist church to-day. 

April, 1820, Lodge-room Committee, 
Richard Douglas, Henry Jack, and John 
Callet, appointed to contract for building 
a church on Walnut Street. Lot pur- 
chased of Henry Jack for three hundred 
dollars. "On the 12th day of September, 
1 82 1, said building on Walnut Street, 



Glimpses of Yesterday, i 73 

Chillicothe, was, by the Right Rev. Phil- 
ander Chase, Bishop of Ohio, aided by 
the Rev. Intrepid Morse, and the Rev. 
Ezra B. Kellogg, of the same church, 
duly consecrated, by the name of St. 
Paul's Church of Chillicothe, County of 
Ross, and State of Ohio, set apart from 
all ordinary and secular uses, unto the 
peculiar honor and worship of Almighty 
God, according to the liturgy, and offices, 
rubrics, and canons, of the Protestant 
Episcopal Church of the United States of 
America." In 1822 — Resolved that the 
members become a corporate body, for 
which, petition was presented to the leg- 
islature, and passed into a law. 

A slight sketch may not be amiss of 
some of the founders of this church, of 
whose families none now remain in the 
parish. 

Judge Levin Belt, from Washington 
City, was a notable churchman. On the 
occasion of Bishop Chase's officiating in 
the Court House, and in default of a 



1 74 Che-Le-Co' The, 



vestry-room, he held a large bandana 
handkerchief, In front of the Bishop, while 
he donned the Episcopal robes. There 
are many charming anecdotes told of him 
which are not in order here. His second 
daughter, Elizabeth, married Henry Bu- 
chanan, a member of our vestry, who 
removed to Portsmouth, and became an 
active member of Dr. Burr's church. 
David McComb married Mary, daughter 
of Governor Worthington, and removed 
to Florida. Robert Kercheval married 
Margaret, daughter of General McArthur. 
and removed to Darby. Colonel Bond, a 
devout churchman, married Miss Strong, 
and with his family was prominent in this 
church. His wife led the singing in the 
Court House and in the first church edi- 
fice. He afterwards removed to Cincin- 
nati. Mr. Wm. R. Southward married 
Mary Buchanan, and removed to Bain- 
bridge. 

Col. Henry Brush figured in the war 
of t8i2 or in some Indian battles. He 



Glimpses of Yesterday, 175 

lived with two maiden sisters in the 
two-story brick house, now occupied by 
Eichenlaub's bakery. They were all at- 
tentive church members. His sisters, 
Zayde and Mary, were after the pattern 
of the ladles of Cranford, punctilious in 
the performance of all their duties of 
church, home, and society. Many were 
the prayer meetings and "circles" held in 
that house. The Colonel was a model of 
courtesy and kindness. 

Thomas James, a prominent and lib- 
eral churchman, with his large family, was 
regular in attendance at church services 
and influential In church work. Abraham 
G. Claypoole, long a church warden and 
vestryman, was from Philadelphia, then 
the emporium of the country. I have 
heard my mother say, that ** the Claypoole 
family introduced many pleasant customs 
in our new Western society." Mr. Clay- 
poole, returned to Philadelphia. Edward 
King, an accomplished scholar, married 
Sarah, daughter of Governor Worthing- 



1 7 6 Che-L e- Co- The, 



ton, and removed to Cincinnati. J. Barnes 
and Isaac Evans also moved away. Of 
the other founders of the church, Richard 
Douglas, and John Woodbridge, the fam- 
ilies are still residents and parishioners 
here. 

Rev. Ezra B. Kellogg was the first 
rector of the parish from, 1822 to 1825. 
He married Miss Brush. The Rev. John 
Bausman, was the second rector, from 
1827 to 1832. During those four years, 
John Bailadre, Ira Delano, James S. 
Swearengen, Peter Leister, Thomas Orr, 
and E. P. Kendrick, were vestrymen. 
At a meeting called at '* early candle 
light" an effort was made to sell the 
church on Walnut Street, and to build a 
larger one. Mr. Bausman was greatly 
beloved and revered for his piety and 
zeal. 

In 1833, Bishop Mcllvaine, appointed 
a day of fasting and prayer, because of 
the prevalence of cholera. The Rev. Ed- 
ward W. Peet took charge of the parish, 




BISHOP MCILVAINl 



Glimpses of Yesterday. i 'j'] 

in 1833. Services were held for a time in 
the Court House. On September 5, 
1834, Bishop Mcllvaine, consecrated the 
church building on Main Street, by the 
name of St. Paul's Church. This was in 
the second year of his consecration. Dr. 
Peet was the first minister, and his was 
the first marriage solemnized in that 
church. He married Sarah Creighton, 
the Rev. Preston of Columbus officiating. 
There were forty-two marriages, under 
his ministry in Chillicothe, of which he 
wrote, many years after, — " As I review 
the names of those remembered and loved, 
living and dead, I find relief in sadness, 
joy, and tears. — Written in my seventy- 
second year, Chapel of Saint George's 
Church, New York." 

During Dr. Peet's ministry, John Scott, 
of Virginia an aged communicant, died in 
1840. He was the father of John C, 
Charles, Gustavus, Elizabeth, and Mary 
Anne, the wife of Wm. B. Franklin, 
Ellen, who married Mr. Doddridge ; Wil- 



178 Che-Le-Co-The. 



liam, who married Miss Florence and re- 
moved to Darby, and Harriet who married 
the Rev. Dr. Thomas Woodrow. 

In 1836, a committee was appointed to 
raise a fund to erect a tower on the church. 
The sexton was ordered not to allow foot 
stoves to be filled from the furnace. Miss 
Mary Davenport was to be drawn on for 
twelve dollars and fifty cents to pay Morris 
O'Free. 

Miss Davenport was very useful to the 
parish. She attended to the rector's robes, 
to the Geneva bands of fine linen which 
were then worn, the Communion service, 
the sexton's work, and the cutting and giv- 
ing out of work at St. Paul's " Circle," which 
met at private houses every week in winter, 
and was a source of quite a revenue, be- 
sides being very delightful socially. Mrs. 
Peter Douglas, Miss Ellen Buchanan, and 
Mrs. Houghton did fine work. Infants' 
christening robes were made, and shirt 
collars were engaged by the gentlemen. 
They were finely stitched and sold at fifty 



Glimpses of Yesterday, 1 79 

cents each. Miss Davenport Inspected 
the work rigidly, and was jestingly called 
*' Major." She was of commanding pres- 
ence. 

Dr. Peet and the Rev. Erastus Burr 
had been classmates ; they had entered 
the ministry about the same time and 
were good comrades. Dr. Burr related 
to me, with his indulgent smile, an inci- 
dent which illustrated their friendship. 
During the great Harrison campaign in 
1840, when Harrison was in Chillicothe, 
Dr. Burr came up from Portsmouth. He 
went in search of his friend, whom he 
found in his study preparing a sermon 
with knitted brow. As soon as Dr. Peet 
caught sight of Dr. Burr he sprang over 
the table to greet him, and said, ''You '11 
preach for me Sunday." Dr. Burr said, 
'' No, I 'm to be in Worthington," then, 
"but if you '11 go there, agreed," and off 
they went arm in arm to the Market 
House, where the ladies were preparing 
for the great Harrison dinner, the central 



1 80 Che-L e- Co- The, 



ornament of the table being a log cabin 
built of bars of corn pone. 

This brings me to the time of the Rev. 
James B. Britton, in May, 1842. The 
Parish was very flourishing under Mr. 
Britton. In those days everybody went 
to church twice on Sunday and to lecture 
on Wednesday, and every pew was filled. 
In the pew of the left aisle sat Mr. Thomas 
Miller, Mrs. Ireland, Mr. Skerrett and fam- 
ily, Colonel Madeira, Mr. John Wood and 
his four sons and daughter, Mr. Denning, 
Mr. John Woodbridge, Mr. Gilmore and 
family. In front, on the opposite side, 
were Colonel Bond, Mr. Kendrick, Judge 
Reeves, and the McArthurs. On the 
east side were the pews of Colonel Swear- 
engen, Mr. Luckett, John Marfield, Wil- 
liam Creighton, Mr. James, Richard 
Douglas, Dr. Watts, and Mr. Stewart. 
In front was the rectory pew, and Mr. S. 
W. Ely's. The young men's pew was a 
little back. In it sat Colonel Taylor, 
whom all remember for his polite, court- 



Glimpses of Yesterday. i8i 

eous manners. At one time three others 
sat with him, one of whom was Lieutenant 
Ewell, afterwards a distinguished Con- 
federate general, successor to Stonewall 
Jackson. There were also the pews of 
Dr. Foulke, Wm. H. Safford, Mr. Sawyer, 
Wm. H. Douglas, John Watt, Mrs. Fair- 
banks, and others whom space forbids me 
to enumerate. 

The organ was played and the choir led 
by a fascinating German lady, Madame 
Walters, who introduced a hymn-book 
called The Church Choir in place of 
Masons Collections, Many choice sen- 
tences and chants were learned, and 
the '' Grand Te Deum " was sung for the 
first time. The choir was splendidly 
voiced, and all sang at the top of their 
lungs. Madame Walters, with both hands 
on the keys, would in vain turn her head 
from side to side imploring a pianissimo. 
Our fine tenor, Mr. John Scott, fairly rose 
on his toes, and the deep bass voices of 
Messrs. Evans and Robert Jordan, with 



1 8 2 Che-Le- Co- The, 



the full baritones of Albert Douglas, Wm. 
James, and John Bennett made the walls 
resound. Madame Walters would throw 
her voice to any part to regulate pitch 
and time. The choir rehearsals were 
very delightful. In winter they were held 
at different houses, and after the church 
music was learned some popular glees 
came in. 

Trimming the church at Christmas was 
a grand festival, and the long green ropes 
were made in such abundance and were so 
firm and round that they could be twined 
around the lamp posts, which were at that 
time on either side aisle, and about the 
Gothic arches back of the pulpit. The 
walls were hung with them from ceiling to 
floor ; there were twinkling stars and 
crosses and '"Hosannas" across the gal- 
lery. The church was crowded on Christ- 
mas Eve, and ''Shout the glad tidings" 
resounded and thrilled every hearer. The 
children at a given time timidly left their 
own pews and solemnly deposited their 



Glimpses of Yesterday. 183 

offerings on the altar table. Our rector 
always rose to the occasion and gave his best 
on Christmas Day ; no one was absent, 
and every voice joined in the glad praises. 

Of the members of the choir mentioned, 
Mr. John Scott married Margaret, one of 
the beautiful Misses McKee, who came 
from Philadelphia about that time. The 
sister, Elizabeth, who sang in the choir, 
married Edward Adams, who was for a 
long time the Superintendent of the Sun- 
day-school. Wm. James married Lucy 
Dun and removed to Missouri. Mr. Jor- 
dan also moved away. Mr. Douglas we 
still have among us, and he always aids 
the service of prayer and praise with his 
rich voice.* Mr. John Bennett left us 
and joined the Methodists. But I must 
hasten on. 

The rectory was built about this time, 
and in 1843 ground was purchased to be 
used by the church as a cemetery. It is 

* Since going to press we regret to record the death of Mr. 
Douglas, which occurred on the 22d of April. 



1 84 Che-Le- Co- The, 



now known as *' Grand View." The first 
interment there was that of Wm. Britton, 
the father of the Rev. James B. Britton. 
Under his auspices a chapel was built on 
Church Street. 

The Rev. L. W. Freeman was rector 
from 1849 ^o 1866. Among the vestry- 
men in those days were John Madeira, S. 
W. Ely, O. T. Reeves, Robert Denning, 
N. W. Thatcher, John Marfield, L. W. 
Foulke, A. Spencer Nye, Albert Douglas, 
Wm. H. Safford, and R. H. Lansing. 

The Rev. George W. Dubois, a son-in- 
law of Bishop Mcllvaine was in charge 
from 1857 to 1862. He took temporary 
leave to become a chaplain in the army. 
On January 13, 1858, he ofificiated at a 
most impressive, touching service, the 
funerals of Mrs. James Swearengen and 
Mrs. Richard Douglas, two of the most 
prominent ladies in the church and life- 
long friends. The church was appropri- 
ately draped in mourning for the occasion. 
Mrs. Games, aged eighty-three, long a 



Glimpses of Yesterday, 185 

beneficiary of the church (which position 
she maintained with great dignity), died 
in 1858. 

I should like to speak of the faithful 
superintendents of the Sunday-school, 
Messrs. Skerrett, Denning, and Lansing; 
of the organists, Bragleman and Collins ; 
of the richly blending voices of Miss Fair- 
banks and Miss Emma Pinto, — they have 
long since passed away ; and of Miss 
Hattie Holcomb's long and faithful work 
in the Sunday-school, choir, and church. 
She too is gone. The alms-basins now in 
use were carved and presented by her. 

But I must limit myself to the first fifty 
years of the parish history, hoping that 
later times will be as fondly remembered. 
I will merely name in their order the suc- 
cessive rectors of St. Paul's to the present 
day : James B. Britton, to 1868 ; William 
B. Brittain, to 1871 ; A. R. Stewart, to 
1876 ; Charles L. Fischer, to 1893 ; Edgar 
G. Murphy, commenced in 1894. ** May 
he long be the last." 



THE CHILLICOTHE FEMALE 
SEMINARY. 

THE pioneer settlers of Chillicothe, as 
a class, were men of culture and re- 
finement, and were anxious that their 
children should be well educated, so, about 
1830, they hailed with delight the arrival 
of two New England ladies. Miss Eunice 
Strong, and Miss Cassandra Sawyer, who 
proposed establishing a boarding school 
for young women. The school was very 
successful but of short duration as the 
principals soon married, and went away 
from Chillicothe. 

The Rev. John Pomeroy then became 
the principal ; Miss Stearns, a graduate of 
Ipswich Seminary, was his assistant in the 
senior classes ; and the Misses Cushing, 
taught the primary department. Mr. 
186 



Glimpses of Yesterday, 187 

Pomeroy's health failed, and the next 
year, Miss Stearns became the head of 
the school, and Miss Sophia Lyman was 
her assistant. Miss Allen had charge of 
the primary school. The beauty and 
charm of manner of Miss Lyman brought 
her hosts of admirers but Dr. Wm. Ful- 
lerton won the prize, and she exchanged 
the school-room for a home in our midst, 
where she was much admired and beloved, 
and where she spent a long and useful 
life. 

Now commenced a new era for the 
school. Miss Stearns was a power for 
^ood in the community, and I doubt if 
any teacher was ever more beloved by her 
scholars ; they fairly worshipped her. She 
had peculiar ideas, and was quaint, both 
in manners and dress ; but a more sensi- 
ble, genial woman never lived. One of 
her peculiar notions was never to reprove 
or advise a scholar in the presence of a 
third person. She had a set of maxims 
for governing the conduct of her scholars, 



1 8 8 Che-Le- Co- The. 



and these were repeated every Friday 
evening. The school was very large, and 
consisted principally of day scholars, 
although a great many pupils came from 
all parts of Ohio. It was famed through- 
out the region, for the thoroughness of 
its instruction and for its moral standard. 
Miss Stearns believed in giving her pupils 
all the pleasure possible in their school 
life, and many were the winter afternoons, 
in which, accompanied by a teacher, the 
scholars had a delightful time, skating 
and sliding on the ice of the river, or 
being drawn in chairs by some of the 
gentlemen of the town, especially by 
Gen. James Worthington, who took as 
much pleasure in it as the girls. 

School always closed earlier on Friday 
afternoon, and a coterie of girls, Elizabeth 
Hoffman, Hester McLean, Dorothy Ren- 
ick, Lucy Carlisle, Louisa and Emily 
Jones, Lucy Dun, Lucy Waddle, Vir- 
ginia Walke, and Jane McCoy, who were 
always together in mischief and play, as 



Glimpses of Yesterday, 189 

well as in study, would ramble over 
the hills for wild flowers, of which there 
was a great abundance. They generally 
closed their walks with an eveninof of 
pleasure at Mr. George Renick's, on top 
of the hill, or at Mr. McLean's, who 
resided where Judge Safford now lives, 
or at Mrs. Hoffman's, Major Mason's 
present place. 

Again, a Saturday would be spent by 
scholars and teachers at Mr. Walke's a 
little way from the town. Miss Margaret 
Worthington would occasionally invite 
the school to Adena, for a day. We 
walked out, two and two, through the 
town, and up the hill, to be greeted with 
motherly tenderness by Mrs. Worthing- 
ton, and then the delights of a day in 
the beautiful garden — the orchard, the 
swings, the games of tag, etc. with Mr. 
William and Gen. James. A bountiful 
dinner was always provided, to which 
hungry girls did full justice, and at its 
close was the pleasant walk home. Oh ! 



1 90 Che-Le- Co- The, 



those were bright spots in our existence, 
and were happy, happy, days. 

The school was held in a house on 
East Fifth Street, on the lot now owned 
by Mr. Mytinger. At first it was a two- 
story frame house, of two rooms above 
and two below, with porches on the side. 
In a short time, it became too crowded 
for comfort, and a front was added con- 
sisting of a hall, and a room for the 
primary department below, and one large 
room upstairs, the whole length of the 
building, for the more advanced pupils. 
This was reached by stairs from the 
porch, and gave a class room, a music 
room, and a chemistry room which were 
well equipped. 

The following year. Miss Stearns was 
assisted by Miss Adams, Miss Smith, and 
Miss Allen, and for a short time by Miss 
Phcebe Cook (now Mrs. McKell). The 
school was as prosperous as ever and had 
a firm hold on the hearts of the people. 

Monday morning was devoted to the 



Glimpses of Yesterday, 191 

study of the Bible, and each scholar was 
required to give the text, and as much as 
she could remember of the sermon she had 
heard the day before. Then followed the 
reading of compositions on a given sub- 
ject, that had been written on Saturday, 
this was a great trial to some of the pupils. 
Examinations were held at the close of 
the year and were attended by all the la- 
dies and gentlemen of the town ; every 
one was at liberty to ask the pupils any 
questions on their lessons ; and rarely did 
they fail in answering correctly, so well 
were they rooted and grounded. The girls 
were all in their best attire, and Miss 
Stearns, in her yellow crepe turban, with 
a rosette on one side, presided with dig- 
nity, proud of the proficiency of her pu- 
pils. 

The last year that Miss Stearns had 
charge of the Seminary her young brother, 
Timothy, a theological student, was with 
her and they conducted the school together 
very successfully. It was Miss Stearns's 



1 9 2 Che-Le- Co- The, 



proud boast, and she feelingly impressed 
it on her scholars, that her brother had 
" never told an untruth." He was imper- 
vious to all the charms of the young ladies, 
with the exception of one, Miss Catherine 
Taylor, of Athens, whom he afterwards 
married. Miss Stearns, too, had become 
a captive to the " god of Love," but her 
fiance, Mr. Robert Kercheval, died and 
she could remain here no longer. Miss 
Swift then took the school, with Miss 
Fitch as assistant. After Miss Swift's re- 
turn to New England, Miss Nancy Tuck, 
with the two Misses Clark, took the man- 
agement under brighter auspices ; for the 
'* New Seminary," as it was called, was 
then built. Miss Tuck remained about 
three years ; she had able assistants in 
Miss Clark and Miss Wheelock, and an 
admirable school, but left, finally, to build 
up a school in Louisville. Some years 
later she married, but soon died, leaving, 
however, a lasting remembrance in the 
hearts of all her pupils. How few there 



Glimpses of Yesterday, 193 

are left of the many who listened to her 
instructions ! but five or six remain ; 
nearly all have passed away. 

Mr. Wm. Howard, his wife, and sister 
next took charge of the school, and opened 
a boarding house, in the building on Fourth 
Street, afterwards occupied by Mr. John 
Dun. The school was quite successful for 
a time but the glory had departed, and the 
" Chillicothe Female Seminary " was bro- 
ken up by his leaving, never again to be 
the pride of Chillicothe. 




THE CAMPAIGN OF 1840, AND 
THE GREAT FIRE OF 1852. 

I am asked to give my personal recol- 
lections of two events in the history 
of Chillicothe. First — The political cam- 
paign of 1840 in Ohio. The statement 
must be only in part, otherwise 't would 
be too long a story. It was a campaign 
of the " outs " against the '' ins " ; of those 
opposed to the then administration, against 
its incumbents and supporters. The 
**out" party bore the name ''Whig," as 
indicative of their opposition to the '' in " 
party. One of the derivations of the word 
*' Whio^ " traces it to the same root with 
the word *' whey," a mixture of sour milk 
and water. If this be correct, the word 
was not ill chosen to fit a party made up of 
those who had soured on the government. 
194 



Glimpses of Yesterday. 195 

The old Republicans or Jeffersonian 
Democrats had been in power ever since 
the downfall of the Federalists in the year 
1 800. The administration of John Quincy 
Adams, from 1824 to 1828, was hardly an 
exception, for it was supported by Mr. 
Clay and many others of the old democ- 
racy, but the great majority of the Demo- 
crats were against Clay. General Jackson 
was the popular favorite. He was Presi- 
dent for eight years, when his mantle fell 
on Martin Van Buren, for four years, but 
his shoulders were not broad enough to 
uphold the popular garment, and disaffec- 
tion broke out all over the country, so 
that the Whig party in 1840, at the end 
of Mr. Van Buren's first term, was made 
up of many heterogeneous elements, em- 
bracing anti-Masons, the old Henry Clay 
Whigs, the disaffected Democrats in Vir- 
ginia and the South, as well as in New 
York and New England, and especially 
in the Great West. 

They sought a man to head their ticket 



1 96 Che-Le- Co- The, 



who possessed the elements of popularity 
everywhere ; and for second place, one 
who would draw votes from the old Jack- 
son party. They found the former in 
General William H. Harrison of Ohio, 
and the latter in John Tyler of Virginia. 
No platform of principles was adopted, 
but the disasters which followed the panic 
of 1837, as a result of the financial policy 
of the government, were relied upon to 
turn the people against the authors of 
that change. Harrison had been for a 
half-century identified with the West, first 
as an officer in the United States Army, 
with the rank of Captain, and Command- 
ant at Fort Washington (Cincinnati), and 
then successively, as Secretary of the 
Northwest Territory, Delegate to Con- 
gress, Governor of Indiana, and the Gen- 
eral-in-Chief of the Northwestern Army 
in the War of 181 2. He had fought a 
successful battle with the Indians in No- 
vember, 181 1, at Tippecanoe on the Wa- 
bash River. He had defeated the British 
General, Proctor, in October, 181 3, in a 



Glimpses of Yesterday, 197 

decisive battle in which Tecumseh, the 
celebrated Indian Chief, was killed, and 
had filled many positions afterward with 
honor to himself and benefit to his country. 
He was now leading a very quiet life, per- 
forming the duties of Clerk of the Court 
in Cincinnati, while his home, I think, was 
at North Bend. 

The nominations of Harrison and Tyler, 
in December, 1839, started a wave of 
popular enthusiasm which swept away, 
apparently, all opposition. The supporters 
of Mr. Van Buren stood dumbfounded. 
They smiled derisively at the Whigs, and 
made some attempts to stem the tide ; but 
it was in vain. The burst of enthusiasm 
in Ohio at the Young Men's Whig Con- 
vention, held at Columbus on February 22, 
1840, when Tom Corwin was nominated 
for Governor, and John Sherman made 
what, I suppose, was his maiden political 
speech, started the ball. Very soon 

" Music swelled the breeze 
And burst from all the trees." 

One could hardly tell whether shouting 



198 Che-Le- Co- The, 



or singing would carry the day. Good 
humor was the prevailing feature ; gro- 
tesqueness next. Such processions were 
never seen before, or since. 

Tremendous structures on wheels, Log 
Cabins in particular, adorned with coon- 
skins and other reminders of the first 
settlement of the country, were in the 
long lines. On one occasion in Columbus, 
Charles Anthony, a distinguished lawyer 
of Springfield, Ohio, a large and portly 
man, was seen on top of a log cabin 
crunching ginger-bread and drinking hard 
cider. In the vicinity of the canals, boats 
were largely used for transportation of the 
noisy crowds. I remember one occasion 
when the boats, bringing the Chillicotheans 
home from the capital, rounded the turn 
of the canal at the north end of Walnut 
Street ; I was walking on Water Street 
with my father, a sedate man, who rarely 
gave vent to any enthusiasm on the public 
street. As the songs and shouts broke 
forth, " For Tippecanoe and Tyler too," 



Glimpses of Yesterday. 199 

it was too much for his sobriety, and for 
the only time in his Hfe that I ever wit- 
nessed, he swung his hat in the air and 
hurrahed with the rest. 

Log cabins, with the famous latch- 
string always out, were built in almost 
every voting precinct. We had one here 
at the southwest corner of Main and Paint 
Streets. I should say that it was fifty feet 
wide and a hundred feet long, with an im- 
mense national flag floating over it, 
where, it seemed to me. Whig meetings 
were in perpetual session. 

The Democrats tried to break the force 
of the overflowing tide by alleging that 
General Harrison's mind was weakened 
by the infirmities of age. To rebut this, 
the Whig leaders thought it best to put 
him on exhibition, and for the first time 
in the history of our elections, a presiden- 
tial candidate was heard upon the stump. 
Chillicothe was one of the points at which 
he was heard. He came accompanied by 
Ex-Governor Metcalf of Kentucky, clad 



2 oo Cke-Le- Co- The, 



in a buckskin hunting-shirt, and by Col- 
onel Todd, one of his old staff officers in 
the war of 1812 and '13. The town was 
filled to overflowing. Every house was 
open, unbounded hospitality was the order 
of the day and night. The General and 
his suite came here from Hillsboro, ac- 
companied by Ex-Governor Trimble and 
others of that town. The people, pouring 
in from the country, followed in his wake 
and made an immense incoming proces- 
sion. Some of the Hillsboro people were 
to be my father's guests. They were, 
some of them, in the same carriage with 
the General, and when it stopped at our 
door to let them out, the General arose, 
took off his hat and made a profound bow 
to the ladles. That seeming condescen- 
sion made a never-to-be forgotten impres- 
sion upon them. 

The speech-making was in the Sugar 
Grove where the Eastern School-building 
now stands. The whole square was then 
vacant, with the exception of the three- 
story cotton factory at the corner of Main 



Glimpses of Yesterday. 201 

and Hickory Streets. The trees gave a 
delightful shade and shelter from the mid- 
summer sun. The whole square and the 
adjacent streets were filled with the lis- 
tening multitude. General William S. 
Murphy, whom we deemed, and called, 
the Patrick Henry of the West, made the 
address of welcome. At the time of pre- 
senting Colonel Croghan with a sword for 
his gallant defence of Fort Stevenson in 
18 1 3, a story was started that the ladies had 
proposed presenting Harrison with a pet- 
ticoat, but these self-same ladies indig- 
nantly denied the story, and on this occa- 
sion presented the General with a cane cut 
from the Tippecanoe battle-ground, with a 
bullet imbedded in its head. General Har- 
rison's was the speech of the day. His 
clear ringing voice was heard by all the 
vast multitude, as he drew a picture of the 
party in power, whom he charged with 
usurping the name while betraying the 
principles of the Simon Pure Democracy 
whose candidate he was. 

Other conventions were held elsewhere ; 



2 o 2 Che-Le- Co- The, 



that at Urban a was the first, that at Day- 
ton the largest ; its numbers were put at 
two hundred thousand. 

Drollery, fun, almost lunacy, were con- 
spicuous. The campaign may have been 
without reason^ but not without rhyme. 
The doggeral fever broke out with 

" Farewell, old Van ! 
You 're not the man 
To guide the ship. 
We '11 try old Tip"— 

and " in the full tide of successful experi- 
ment " inquired to the tune of " The little 
pig's tail," 

*' What has caused this great commotion — motion, 
motion 

Our Country through ? 
It is the ball that 's rolling on, — on — on, 
For Tippecanoe and Tyler too ! For Tippecanoe 

and Tyler too ! 
And with them we '11 beat little Van. 

Van ! Van ! is a used up man 
And with them we '11 beat little Van." 

A hundred like rhymes rush on my mem- 



Glimpses of Yesterday. 203 

ory, but want of space forbids repeating 
them. 

Two lessons may be learned from this 
campaign. First, that the people when 
aroused can do what they please ; second, 
that the cause of their rising may not 
always be the just subject of their indig- 
nation, for although the change in financial 
policy which resulted in the establish- 
ment of the U. S. Independent Treasury, 
brought on a disastrous monetary panic, 
yet that policy has been acquiesced in, 
and followed by all parties down to the 
present day as the wisest and best. 



THE GREAT FIRE. 

It began at about 11 a.m. in a carpen- 
ter shop on the alley between Second and 
Water Streets, west of Walnut Street, 
opposite the stable attached to the Clin- 
ton Hotel. A bunch of shavings pushed 
into a stove, an accumulation of smoke 
and gas bursting open the stove door and 
scattering the fire among the shavings on 



2 04 Che-Le- Co- The, 



the floor, — the shop in flames, — the Hotel 
stable next, and then the Hotel itself; 
the canal empty, no water nearer than the 
Scioto River beneath the steep bank north 
of the canal ; the hurried placing of a 
hand fire-engine between the canal and 
river and an attempt to throw water from 
it upon the fire ; a high and mighty wind, 
driving the men from the engine and con- 
suming the latter, or else causing it to be 
rolled into the river to prevent its destruc- 
tion (I forget which), and carrying flakes 
of fire with terrific speed upon all the 
town lying eastward ; a mad impressment 
of vehicles of every sort to save furniture 
and merchandise from the houses that lay 
in the pathway of the flames ; consterna- 
tion on every face, hurrying to and fro, 
in the effort to save something; blank 
despair, as the flame sped relentlessly on 
with flash and roar, and the occasional 
bursting of cans of powder in stores that 
dared such hazard, until at last as evening 
came on, the wind ceased, and the fire 



Glimpses of Yesterday, 205 

stopped somewhere west of Hickory 
Street, almost for want of food within its 
path. 

Such was the story told me on my re- 
turn to Chillicothe on the evening of that 
fateful day. I had been absent at Court 
in Fayette County and had ridden across 
into Madison County on some business 
matter. Returning homeward, I noticed 
from the high plain above the North Fork 
of Paint Creek, this side of Blooming- 
burgh, in the direction of Chillicothe, a 
great cloud of smoke. I thought it very 
large but concluded it came from the 
burning of brushwood and cornstalks by 
the farmers along the Paint Creek or 
North Fork bottoms. 

At Frankfort I stopped for horse feed- 
ing, and to take dinner, and afterward 
mounted for a leisurely homeward ride. 
After passing the Cory hill, I met a man 
with a wagon and team, who stopped to 
ask me whether I were going to Chillico- 
the ? I said, *' Yes." ''You need n't go, 



2 o6 Che-Le- Co- The. 



said he, " for Chillicothe is all burned up." 
It was April ist, and concluding that I 
was sought to be made the victim of the 
day, I rode on, with just curiosity enough 
to ask the next person I met about the 
fire. He told me of its location and ex- 
tent, and as it began near my own little 
home on Second Street, and as the homes 
and business of many relatives and friends 
were directly in its path, I lost no further 
time but galloped my horse until I reached 
the town. The shades of night had 
gathered over the scene, but the ground 
in the fire's way was lurid with glowing 
embers and low shooting flames, and the 
people everywhere were busy watching 
against a renewal of the conflagration, or 
in providing food and shelter for those 
who had been made houseless and home- 
less. That night was marked by many 
sleepless eyes. 

The next few days were busy with 
preparation for rebuilding and for the re- 
sumption of business. Temporary quar- 



Glimpses of Yesterday, 207 

ters were soon found for our shopmen 
and merchants. Creditors were generous 
and indulgent ; new credits were given, 
new and better buildings were erected, 
and a prosperity seemingly greater than 
before attended us. But it was only seem- 
ing. Pay-day had to come some time. 
It was postponed and delayed by renewals 
and expedients of all sorts, for a score of 
years ; our business men falling, one by 
one, from year to year, until about all the 
old men were gone and their places filled 
by the energetic youth who went into the 
war of the rebellion almost as boys, but 
came out thoughtful and disciplined men. 
May our Heavenly Father save us from 
another calamity like that of the Great 
Fire of April i, 1852. 




PRESENTATION OF CANE TO 
GENERAL HARRISON. 

THE greatest crowd of people ever 
assembled in Chillicothe, so the 
historian tells us, was in 1840, during one 
of the most exciting political campaigns 
ever waged in the United States. The 
victorious hero of the campaign, Gen. 
William Henry Harrison was the central 
figure of that mighty concourse. 

The people came from the four quar- 
ters to a three days' convention, to do 
honor to the gallant hero of Tippecanoe. 
It was a tidal-wave of enthusiasm, arising 
in the West and sweeping with majestic, 
resistless force across the entire nation. 

On the second day of the convention, 
September 17, 1840, the town was a- 
blaze with an enthusiasm never seen 
208 



Glimpses of Yesterday, 209 

before or afterward — an enthusiasm that 
found vent in a demonstration without a 
parallel in the fair Valley of the Scioto. 
The masses fell into line, in a grand tri- 
umphal procession extending more than 
a league, formed of carriages in double 
file and sometimes three abreast, and of 
horsemen eight abreast, interspersed with 
bands of music, and gay with banners, and 
marched to receive General Harrison and 
to escort him into the city. 

Speaking of this occasion the historian 
says : 

'' But one only of the animating scenes 
of those days so full of dramatic situa- 
tions and eloquent words, stands related 
to the honor done in the same city, to the 
hero of Fort Stephenson. Ten ladles, 
survivors of the honored thirty-seven, 
who had presented the sword to Major 
Croghan in 1813, presented to General 
Harrison an historic cane. 

*' The following was the inscription 
upon the cane : 



2 1 o Che-Le- Co- The. 



'* * Cut on the Tippecanoe battle-ground, 
May 29, 1840, by Jesse Walton, of Vir- 
ginia ; presented by him to J. Madeira ; 
by him to Jane McCoy, Eleanor Worth- 
ington, Jane M. Evans, Margaret Mc- 
Landburgh, Eliza Creighton, Elizabeth 
Carlisle, Nancy Waddle, Rebecca M. Orr, 
Ruhamah Irwin, Ann Creighton, of Chil- 
licothe, and by them to Gen. William H. 
Harrison, as a mark of their respect for 
his military and civil character, Chillicothe, 
September 17, 1840.'" 

John Carlisle, Senior, who came to 
Chillicothe, in 1798, was put forward by 
the townspeople as their spokesman on 
this occasion. Mr. Carlisle presented the 
cane to General Harrison, concluding his 
eloquent speech in these words : 

" And, sir, when our political battle 
shall have been fought and won ; when 
you enter the presidential mansion, be 
pleased to take with you this staff, as a 
remembrance of those survivinof ladles of 
Chillicothe (who have been maliciously, 



Glimpses of Yesterday, 2 1 1 

and falsely charged with censuring your 
military character), as a mark of high 
estimation in which they hold the impor- 
tant services you have rendered your 
country, in war and in peace. It was cut 
from one of the fields of your glory. It 
grew on the battle-ground of Tippecanoe, 
and bears the marks of that battle — a ball 
in the head. As the honored representa- 
tive of these ladies, I present it to you." 

The selection of Mr. Carlisle as the 
speaker of the occasion, was most appro- 
priate, as politically, he was a figure of the 
most stalwart type. He was a warm 
friend of Henry Clay, and the Henry 
Clay badge worn by him (still treasured 
as a family heirloom) is made of white 
satin, seven and one half inches long, and 
four inches wide, and bears a fine portrait 
of '' Harry of the West." 

He was an enthusiastic Whig, and an 
incident illustrative of his strong political 
feeling is related of him as follows : A 
Democratic newspaper was lying on the 



212 Che-Le-Co-The. 



store counter, and a friend requested him 
to hand it to him. Mr. Carlisle arose, 
walked to the fireplace, and picking up 
the paper with the tongs gingerly passed 
it to the visitor. 

He is remembered as having always 
worn the old-fashioned queue ; every day 
to the time of his death, he had Uncle 
JImmie Richards come and dress his hair, 
and would intrust this important duty to 
no one else. 




JOHN CARLISLE, SEN. 




THE CATHOLIC CHURCH. 

THERE is no written record of the 
first Catholics in Chillicothe, or 
when, where, and by whom the holy sac- 
rifice of the Mass was first offered upon 
its present site. 

Unless the Scioto Valley is an excep- 
tion to the earliest appearance of the 
white man in every accessible portion of 
the Great Northwest, it is not improb- 
able that some zealous missionary of the 
Church, pushing his way through the 
tangled woodland, stopped in the shadow 
of Logan, and with the overspreading 
boughs of the tall trees for his sanctuary, 
a wayside rock for his altar, intoned his 
offering to the Almighty in presence of 
the wondering red men. 
213 



2 1 4 Che-Le- Co- The, 



It is not known whether any communi- 
cants of the Faith were with Massie and 
his brave band. History is silent as to 
the initial footprint of CathoHcity in ChilH- 
cothe before the first decade of the present 
century. 

The traditions handed down and the 
recollections presented to our generation 
make it certain, however, that for many 
years before the thirties the children of 
Mother Church, in numbers not exceeding 
half a dozen families, gathered together 
regularly on Sundays under a common 
roof and without a resident minister of 
their faith, recited the prayers and per- 
formed the devotions of their religion. 

Twice or three times a year during this 
period the little colony of the faithful were 
fortunate in having within their midst, for 
a few days at a time, a passing Jesuit or 
a Dominican missionary. 

As was the custom and necessity in those 
days, the travelling Father came and went 
on horseback. In his saddle-bags were 



Glimpses of Yesterday. 2 1 5 

carried the altar-stone, chalice, crucifix, 
vestments, missal, and candles. His pres- 
ence made known in the community, the 
isolated flock gathered to hear his words 
of comfort and to assist at the Mass. In- 
structions to both the young and old were 
given, and before he left for another local- 
ity similarly situated, the nucleus of the 
forming congregation in Chillicothe had 
received the sacraments of the Church. 

This state of affairs continued until 
about the year 1830, when the increase of 
population and the growing flood of immi- 
gration found a full hundred Catholics in 
the ancient metropolis. 

In those days Martin Bauman was the 
Boniface of the Washington House, an 
hotel on Deer Creek Street (now Park 
Street), facing the present location of the 
gas works. To his piety, generosity, and 
strong faith the church owes a debt of 
everlasting gratitude. It would be unjust 
to the memory of Mrs. Dennis McConnell, 
whose aid was ever forthcoming at that 



2 1 6 Che-Le- Co- The. 



period, not to divide with her the praise 
just given to that generous CathoHc 
pioneer. 

At that time the Dominicans had estab- 
lished their Mother House at Somerset, 
Perry County, Ohio, and at regular inter- 
vals the spiritual wants of the Chillicothe 
colony were ministered to by the followers 
of St. Dominic, who held their services in 
the hostelry of the patriarchal Bauman. 

The name of Father Baden, the first 
priest ordained in the United States, 
should not be omitted in these recollec- 
tions of the early days. There are those 
living who met and knew this wonderful 
man. There was hardly a bridle-path in 
Ohio during the first half-century of its 
statehood over which Father Baden had 
not passed. The pioneers of Chillicothe, ir- 
respective of creed, learned to reverence 
this Apostle of the Middle States. Fear- 
less, rugged, and of a strong personality, 
he went from cabin to village, fanning the 
embers of Christianity into an inextin- 



Glimpses of Yesterday, 217 

gulshable flame, and planting the seed of 
his faith in the hearts of the remaining 
aborigines. 

From the records in the possession of 
St. Peter's Church of ChilHcothe, it is 
learned that during the period from 1830 
to the summer of 1837, Fathers Zadoc 
Allemany, Samuel Mazzuchelli, and Nich- 
olas P. Young, Dominican Friars, were 
among the priests who said Mass at the 
Washington House and attended to the 
needs of the colony. Father Allemany 
was afterwards made the Archbishop of 
San Francisco, and became the greatest 
churchman on the Pacific Coast. Father 
Young was consecrated Bishop, and pre- 
sided over the diocese of Erie, Pennsyl- 
vania. 

On the 7th of June, 1837, Father Henry 
D. Juncker, afterwards Bishop of Alton, 
Illinois, was sent by Bishop Purcell, of 
Cincinnati, to Chillicothe, as its first res- 
ident pastor, and he immediately began 
his labors to establish the faith. The 



2 1 8 Che-Le- Co- The. 



present home of the widow and children 
of the late Matthias Bonner, on South 
Walnut Street, was then owned by the 
Episcopalians, and used by them as their 
place of worhip. In passing, it is of inter- 
est to note that this building was the first 
Episcopal church erected west of the Alle- 
ghany Mountains. Shortly after Father 
Junckers arrival, the Catholic congrega- 
tion purchased it, and gave it the name 
of St. Mary's Church. Prominent among 
its laity were Martin Bauman, Marshal 
Anderson, John McNally, Roger and 
Charles Cull, Michael Rigney, George and 
Fred Barman. Father Juncker continued 
in charge of the affairs of the church until 
July, 1845, assisted, however, at various 
times by Father Edward Purcell, a brother 
of the ruling Bishop, Father Amadeus 
Rappe, who later became Bishop of Cleve- 
land, Father H. B. Butler, afterwards 
Vicar-General of Covington, and Father 
J. B. Emig of the Society of Jesus. 

In 1843, ^^ congregation had increased 



Glimpses of Yesterday, 2 1 9 

to such a size that it was found necessar}' 
to secure other quarters. Accordingly, 
in that year a lot was purchased on the 
corner of Water and Church Streets, and 
the corner-stone, of what is now St. Pe- 
ter's Church, was laid. By the fall of 
1846, the edifice was completed, with the 
Rev. Otto H. Borgess, uncle of Bishop 
Borgess of Detroit, as the pastor. 

Father Borgess was succeeded, in 1847, 
by the Jesuits, among whom were Fath- 
ers Kolcher, De Hope, Tschieder, and 
Carroll. Within three years from the com- 
pletion of the new church, the Jesuits had 
increased their flock to such an extent that 
it was deemed best to organize another 
congregation. The building on Walnut 
Street was still in possession of St. Peter's 
congregation, and to it returned about a 
dozen families, with Father Carroll, S. J., 
as pastor. 

Prominent in aiding and promoting the 
new St. Mary's Church, were, so say its 
records, Marshall Anderson, Jacob Eich- 



2 2 o Che-Le- Co- The, 



enlaub, James Scully, Roger and Charles 
Cull, Andrew Malone, Dr. T. McNally, 
Edward, Peter, and James Carville, Wm. 
B. Hanley, John Relly, John Poland and 
his two sons, Patrick and William. The 
rapid growth of the Church in Chillicothe 
can be justly attributed to the untiring 
zeal of the Jesuit Fathers. During their 
stay there were always two or more of 
their number present. Not content with 
working within the city, they began to 
seek for conversions in the country round 
about. On the Waverly Turnpike, be- 
low Massieville, stands St. Xavier's Mis- 
sion Church, now almost in ruins, which 
they erected, and to which, while they 
remained in Chillicothe, a hundred souls 
went to worship. In Harrison Township, 
near Londonderry, another mission, with 
a church named St. Mary's, was estab- 
lished. 



During the two years of Father Car- 
roll's pastorate of St. Mary's, the congre- 



Glimpses of Yesterday. 221 

gation Increased so rapidly that It again 
became necessary to secure a larger 
edifice. Before this was accomplished 
the Jesuits were called from Chillico- 
the, Father Carroll afterwards becoming 
Bishop of the Covington Diocese. 

Father Thomas Boulger succeeded, 
and, In 1852, the Methodist Church on 
the north side of Second Street, between 
Walnut and Paint Streets, was purchased. 
In 1854, Father Boulger gave way to the 
Rev. M. Ford, who in a year was suc- 
ceeded by the Rev. J. N. Thisse ; the 
latter remained until i860, when the Rev. 
Michael Kennedy assumed charge. In 
1863, Rev. T. J. TIerney became pastor, 
but he died in office on the 6th of Sep- 
tember, 1865. During his pastorate the 
congregation determined to build a church 
suitable not only for their present wants, 
but one that would accommodate their 
increasing numbers for many years to 
come. Shortly before the death of Father 
TIerney, the property on the southeast 



22 2 Che-Le- Co- The, 



corner of Fourth and Paint Streets was 
purchased from the Sisters of Notre Dame, 
who had for many years used it as an 
academy for young ladies. 

Father John B. Murray was appointed 
to fill the vacancy occasioned by the death 
of Father Tierney. He immediately as- 
sumed the work of erecting the church as 
contemplated by his predecessor. On the 
first anniversary of the latter's death, the 
corner-stone was laid, and in 1869 the 
building was completed. For the ground, 
structure, and furnishings, over $75,000.00 
was collected and expended. Father Mur- 
ray remained until June, 1883. Father 
Jeremiah A. Murray assisted his brother in 
the latter years of his pastorate. Father 
John B. Murray is at present the rector 
of Mt. St. Mary's Seminary of Cincinnati. 
Chillicothe has, probably, never had a 
pastor so beloved by his flock, and a 
churchman so universally respected by the 
citizens of all denominations. This sketch 
will not permit of the space that would 



Glimpses of Yesterday, 223 

necessarily be given in extolling his good 
work. The existing missions at Frankfort 
and at Waverly were founded by him. 

During the following three months, 
Father Patrick Cusack was pastor, being 
succeeded in September by the Rev. James 
J. O'Donohue. Four years later the Rev. 
Patrick A. Quinn, a dean of the Diocese, 
was appointed, and served until the 23d 
of September, 1889, when the present in- 
cumbent, the Rev. Alfred D. Dexter 
became pastor. In the last year of 
Father Quinn's service, his failing health 
necessitated the presence of an assistant. 
This position was filled by the Rev. 
John Hickey. Father Hickey comes of a 
religious family, having four brothers who 
are priests, and a sister a nun. The con- 
gregation at present numbers over 160 
families. 



In 1849, when the English-speaking 
communicants of St. Peter's Church re- 
turned to St. Mary's on Walnut Street, 



224 Che-L e- Co- The, 



Fathers Koelcher and De Hope, of the 
Society of Jesus, remained. St, Peters 
has ever since been known as the German 
Catholic Church. 

On the 2 1 St of September, 1851, Father 
Edward Lieb became the pastor. He 
had been an Austrian Capuchin, and for 
seven years Hved in the royal Court at 
Vienna, as tutor to Maximilian, whose 
pathetic ending in Mexico is an event in 
our century. Father Lieb was an accom- 
plished linguist and a noted authority on 
Canon Law. He served until November 
23, 1 88 1. During the closing years of his 
pastorate, he was assisted by the Rev. F. 
Mesmer. 

Rev. Ernest Windthorst, who succeeded 
Father Lieb, is a nephew of the late Herr 
Windthorst, the great Catholic leader in 
the Reichstag. While in Chillicothe, the 
Holy See conferred on him the title of 
Monsignor, making him a member of the 
Papal household. Mgr. Windthorst is a 
scholarly gentleman, and was both rever- 



Glimpses of Yesterday, 225 

enced by his parishioners and esteemed by 
the citizens generally. 

The present incumbent is Rev. Wm. B 
Miggeel. The congregation numbers over 
180 families. St. Mary's and St. Peter's 
Churches have had, from their organiza- 
tion, parochial schools for boys and girls. 
The Sisters of Notre Dame, of Mercy, 
and of St. Joseph have been, at different 
times, the teachers. 





AN OLD HISTORIC HOME. 

THE first deed on record for this 
property was from General Massie 
to John McCoy. In 1804, John McCoy 
deeded it to Thomas Worthington. The 
third deed was from Thomas Worthing- 
ton, in 1805, to Nathaniel WilHs. I do 
not know who built the original house. 
Willis was the father of N. P. Willis and 
the founder of the Scioto Gazette, In 
1809, h^ deeded back to Worthington, 
and in 18 10, Worthington deeded to 
Jesse Spencer. In Southard's records, 
Jesse Spencer, Register of the land ofifice, 
lived in a two-story brick house on Fifth 
Street, west of the Academy lot. In 
181 2, Spencer sold to Anthony Walke. 
When Commodore Henry Walke last vis- 
226 



Glimpses of Yesterday, 227 

ited Chillicothe, he spoke of his brother 
Thomas having been born here, and also 
about his playing ball on the ground west 
of the house, and jumping Honey Creek. 
In 18 1 5, Mr. Walke sold to Thomas 
James, who resided here for fifty years. 
Mr. James's first wife was a sister of Gen- 
eral Massie ; she died early, leaving four 
children, — Thomas, Nathaniel, Ann, and 
Charlotte. Mr. James again married. 
The second wife was Miss Jane Claypoole, 
a lady of fine presence, who presided over 
his hospitable house with grace and dig- 
nity. Mr. Claypoole, Mrs. James's father, 
came from Philadelphia to take the presi- 
dency of the United States Bank. He 
had several sons and daughters, who were 
great additions to the society of Chilli- 
cothe. One child Eliza (Mrs. Carson), 
was noted for her intellectual qualities. 
Charlotte James lived most of the time 
with her uncle, Henry Massie, in Louis- 
ville, Kentucky. Thomas died in early 
boyhood. Nat lived to man's estate and 
died here in his father's house about 1835. 



2 28 Che-L e- Co- The, 



He came home from Cincinnati ill, and 
the next day broke out with varioloid. 
His sister Charlotte was to be married in a 
week. As all the preparations were made, 
Mrs. James decided to have the wedding 
at the appointed time. Nat was isolated 
in a bedroom in the back part of the 
house. The day after the wedding he 
died. His father was constant in atten- 
dance on him, and he and Mr. Peet, the 
Episcopal minister, were the sole attend- 
ants at his funeral. Ann, beautiful and 
accomplished, married Nathaniel Pendle- 
ton of Cincinnati. 

Mr. James was social and hospitable. 
Mrs. James, a queen of society, entertained 
a great deal. Her sons were, Abram, 
William, Anvil, Louis, and Edmund. 
The daughters were Elizabeth, now Mrs. 
John Dun of Columbus ; Jane, Mrs. 
Thompson of Baltimore ; Gertrude, who 
died young ; and Mary, Mrs. Massie and 
afterwards Mrs. Colonel Cochran of Vir- 
ginia. Mr. James built additions to the 
house as the needs of his family required, 



Glimpses of Yesterday, 229 

and, finally, in 1838, he built a new front 
consisting of two rooms and a hall. The 
stone arch that framed in the transom of 
the front door was left intact, and now 
forms a fine feature of the hall. Mrs. 
James ornamented the lawn with fine 
shrubbery and lovely roses ; she also had 
a fine garden stocked with fruit. The lot 
extended from 5th Street to 7th Street, 
and from the school lot to Walnut Street. 
After Mr. James's death, Mrs. James con- 
tinued to live in the house until her death. 
Then the property was sold, in 1867, to 
Wesley Claypool, and again in 1879 ^^ 
M. Scott Cook. The old part of the 
house still remains in good preservation, 
and the old fashioned pump with its big 
stock and large iron handle, is still stand- 
ing in the rear of the house. The house 
has been the scene of many changes, and 
has a history unequalled in Chillicothe. 
The many gay scenes and lovely parties 
enacted in it, would make interesting 
history, even to the ghost that occasionally 
makes visits to its inmates. 



A SOCIETY SKETCH. 
1 830-1 850. 

AN evening party in the yesterdays 
was a far more stately and cere- 
monious occasion than it is now ; no such 
frivolity as small tables, served plates, 
and courses would have been tolerated, 
for form and ceremony were much more 
important factors in society at that time. 
When all the guests had assembled 
there were to be seen the girls — were ever 
girls so lovely ! — with fair white necks and 
dimpled arms, rising from clouds of misty 
white muslin or billows of foaming white 
tarleton (white and muslins were the 
proper party wear for young maidens), 
made with full floating skirts, a plain 
bodice fastened in the back, the always 
230 



Glimpses of Yesterday, 231 

becoming bertha of lace or folds framing 
the shoulders, the drooping curls or glossy 
braids, shading the sweetest faces in the 
world ; trains were not for girls, so the 
little feet stole in and out from the snowy 
skirts, giving but a glimpse of dainty 
slipper and clocked stocking. The ma- 
trons, equally as much to be admired, 
were stately in silks, and velvets, and 
satins, giving life and color to the scene ; 
they could wear jewels, rich laces, and 
nodding plumes, which no maiden could 
don, and to the utmost did they exercise 
that prerogative in the Chillicothe of old. 
And the gentlemen, of them, we can only 
say they wore the handsomest, most ap- 
proved evening dress. 

At a fixed hour, when the supper was 
to be served, the doors were opened 
solemnly, and the tables in all their beauty 
appeared to view, — that sight alone would 
put to blush the modern fashion of party 
going. Sometimes the tables were en 
evidence during the whole evening, al- 



232 Che-Le- Co- The. 



though the serving did not begin until a 
given time. Though less ceremonious, this 
plan had its advantages, as all the varied 
beauties could not be taken in at a glance. 
The snowy damask, sometimes decked 
with myrtle or ivy tastefully arranged, 
covered both tables, — for there were always 
two, either in the same or an adjacent 
room, — one the supper, and the other the 
refreshment table. 

The centre ornament was always a 
pyramid ; perchance it was of crystal, 
built of graduated glass stands, each of 
which was wreathed with green and bore 
a circle of wine glasses, filled with brilliant 
sparkling jelly. Or perhaps the pyramid 
was of fruit, oranges and lemons, with 
their glossy, dark green leaves interspersed 
with an occasional spray of the fragrant 
blossoms. A beautiful one, which lingered 
in the memory like a picture of rare color- 
ing, had the blushing, wax-like *' Lady 
Apples " peeping through and depending 
from the shining sprays of myrtle. The 



Glimpses of Yesterday. 233 

latter wreathed each stand of the pyramid 
which held the glittering cut glasses filled 
with quivering amber jelly. This struc- 
ture reached the chandelier, from which 
pendent sprays of myrtle mingled with 
the wreaths. Each end of the table bore 
also a pyramid, one of "kisses," and one 
of maccaroons ; both of which were cov- 
ered with a filmy, misty veil of spun sugar 
that shimmered and sparkled in the light. 
The ice-creams were also in the shape of 
pyramids ; while preserves and candies, 
in fiat dishes of cut glass, formed sweet 
valleys to these delicious mountain peaks. 
Enormous fruit, bride, and pound cakes 
were beautifully and elaborately decorated 
with icing, triumphs of the confectioner's 
art ; and silver baskets twinkled here and 
there filled with small cakes. These were 
ornamented with frosting " dots," and 
melted in one's mouth. Quite as orna- 
mental, in their way, as the dainties named, 
were the substantial. The pink ham with 
its shading of feathery parsley was a pic- 



234 Che-Le- Co- The, 



ture ; and ivory breast of fowl in delicate 
slices, a fine contrast to the encircling 
green ; while plates of thinnest bread and 
butter, and crusty brown rolls, added their 
low tones to this charming scheme of 
color. 

In a corner of the room, or in a con- 
venient room or hall adjacent, was placed 
a small, ornamented table bearing quan- 
tities of cups and saucers of handsome 
china and a silver equipage for coffee, 
piles of plates and saucers, dainty fringed 
napkins, and heaps of forks and spoons 
were placed convenient for serving. The 
tables, glowing with color, and glittering 
with silver and cut glass, were made still 
more brilliant by the candelabras, with 
their twinkling tapers and sparkling prisms, 
which every moment sent forth rays of 
ever changing light. 

This altar — the description of which is 
the merest sketch — was presided over by 
a negro deity, Morris O'Free, who used 
to appear the day before the festive occa- 



Glimpses of Yesterday, 235 

sion, prepare the meats, bake the cakes, 
arrange for the deHcious salad, in fact take 
full control of everything ; and the hostess, 
knowing everything would be safe in his 
practised hands, was free to expend her 
energies in the beautiful decorations. 
Never another has arisen like unto Morris ! 
The day of the party, with no fuss or 
worry, everything was made ready by him, 
even to lighting the candles. At the last 
moment he filled with lemonade the im- 
mense cut-glass bowl which, with its 
attendant glasses, was placed in the hall ; 
then in ministerial broadcloth and with 
dignified manner he stood ready to open 
the door and wave the guests toward the 
dressing rooms. When the supper was 
served, Morris was still the presiding deity, 
and with his assistants, whom he managed 
so well, he served the guests to the deli- 
cacies he had prepared. A " gentleman 
of the old school was Morris " — may he 
rest in peace. 

Many of these entertainments were 



236 Che-L e- Co- The. 



dancing parties, but when given in house- 
holds where that amusement was not 
approved of, the evening was spent in 
conversation and music. 

Mrs. Wills had fine taste in decorating, 
and would often lend great assistance to 
her friends, beside entertaining often and 
handsomely herself ; and the bevy of 
pretty girls she had about her gave an 
added charm to her parties. 

The summer season was especially gay, 
and, frequently, the parties would be in 
rapid succession, the great difficulty being 
to find evenings enough. Mrs. General 
Murphy gave famous parties ; she always 
had one in strawberry and one in rasp- 
berry time. Mrs. Richard Douglas was a 
delightful hostess, as well as a charming 
and intellectual woman. Mrs. Jones gave 
frequent parties for her handsome daugh- 
ters, and for the many guests who came 
to the city. Judge Morris's stately daugh- 
ters gave grace to his entertainments, as 
did their beautiful descendants in more 



Glimpses of Yesterday, 237 

modern times. Mrs. Trimble had many 
fascinating visitors to give life and charm 
when she entertained ; and one of them, 
dainty Miss Bettie Atwood, was per- 
suaded by Mr. McClintick to accept a 
home in Chillicothe. 

The house of Mrs. James McLandburgh, 
with its spacious halls and drawing-rooms, 
was the scene of many an evening party 
of wondrous beauty, and its handsome 
mistress presided charmingly over this 
hospitable home. Mrs. Humphrey Fuller- 
ton's house, with its gay Kentucky guests 
and lovely daughters, was always popular. 
Mrs. Atwood gave many delightful par- 
ties, — the house-warming, when she en- 
tered her new home on the corner of Fifth 
and Paint Streets, being a most brilliant 
affair. While her guest, handsome Miss 
Margaret King was wooed and won, — 
and as Mrs. Nathaniel Wilson, in later 
years, herself entertained charmingly. 

How delightful, after a drive through 
the perfumed dusk of a summer night, or 



238 Che- Le- Co- The, 



the cold, white moonlight of winter, the 
dancing and feasting at Mr. Woodbridge's, 
— or at the Adams homestead ! A bril- 
liant occasion for old and young was the 
dancing reception that General Greene 
gave as a house-warming in what is now 
the Kendrick property. An invitation to 
one of Mrs. Hoffman's parties was hailed 
with delight ; the Dun families had many 
delightful entertainments ; Mrs. Marfield 
and Mrs. Ross had charming parties; 
Mr. Ross, before his own marriage, gave 
a reception to Mr. Henry McLandburgh 
and his bride, in his bachelor quarters, 
which was a notable affair. Mrs. Carlisle 
and Mrs. Carson had handsome daughters 
who made their entertainments bright 
and vivacious. Colonel Bond's receptions 
charmed every one ; and no dainties, in 
later years, taste like those which were 
served at Mrs. Dr. Foulke's parties. Were 
evenings ever so fascinating as those on 
which Mrs. Latham gave her famous en- 
tertainments ! Mrs. Judge Hall of Cincin- 
nati, — a sister of Mrs. Latham, and of 



Glimpses of Yesterday. 239 

Gen. Robert Anderson of Fort Sumter 
fame, — who visited Chillicothe as a gay, 
vivacious widow, taking captive all hearts, 
said many years later: ''Those happy, 
bright days ! How charming the lavish hos- 
pitality of those dear, old Chillicothe homes 
— I have never seen such beautiful parties 
— never met a more delightful society ! " 

" Those dear, old Chillicothe homes " — 
that part echoes drearily through my heart, 
for as I recall the old, the original home- 
steads, that once were radiant with life I 
can think of but one — the old Fullerton 
house — which still remains in the old name. 
True, in Mr. George Renick's old stone 
house on the hill — the scene of many a 
youthful frolic, — there are descendants of 
another name, and also at Fruit Hill and 
Adena, but in nearly all, the " lights are 
fled, the garland dead" — only the living 
flowers bloom still in Memory's fadeless 
wreath, and 

" Oft in the stilly night, 
E'er slumber's chain hath bound me — 
Fond memory brings the light 
Of other days around me." 



A REMINISCENCE-EMIN BEY'S 
VISIT. 

IN trying to write a little sketch of the 
visit of Emin Bey and his party to 
our city, in the fall of 1850, I encountered 
the old difficulty in getting at the facts of 
reminiscence. For memories have a way 
of differing from each other and becom- 
ing vague, and I realized how rapidly the 
past is growing dim and leaving us, and 
that we must quickly gather the incidents, 
or they will soon be beyond our reach. 
Emin Bey was a man of high rank, and 
was sent by the Sultan to examine the 
educational and civic institutions in this 
country, under the guidance of John Por- 
ter Brown, who was admirably fitted for 
the office, by his long residence in Turkey, 
and by his familiarity with the language, 
240 



Glimpses of Yesterday, 241 

customs, and needs of that foreign land. 
But his visit to our city was as a personal 
friend of Mr. Brown, and partook more 
of a social nature. 

The citizens were delighted to welcome 
the old friend of their boyhood days, and 
to bestow on him the honors due his posi- 
tion. So with all the cordial hospitality 
for which Chillicothe was noted, many 
homes were thrown open, among them, 
those of Mr. George Wood, Thomas 
James, Jacob Atwood, Colonel Madeira, 
and James McLandburgh. This series of 
handsome entertainments was interspersed 
by a number of smaller affairs, and wound 
up with a large ball at the Athenaeum, to 
which many guests from a distance were 
invited. The Emin Bey party consisted 
of Emin Bey, his Secretary, and an atten- 
dant ; John Porter Brown, Mrs. Brown 
his mother, and also his wife, who was his 
cousin, being a daughter of Commodore 
Porter, and Dr. Bouldin, a half-brother of 

Mrs. Brown. The latter was so pleased 

16 



242 Che-Le- Co- The, 



with Chillicothe, that he concluded to re- 
main, thinking he would locate perma- 
nently. But, whether he was disappointed 
that Chillicothe did not keep up her lavish 
entertaining, or received no calls for med- 
ical advice, or some fair one refused to 
smile upon him is not known, but after a 
stay of several months, he left. 

Emin Bey and his Secretary were fine- 
looking Turks, exceedingly polite and gen- 
tlemanly in their manners, and when they 
donned their native dress, must have pre- 
sented a picturesque appearance. They, 
as well as Mr. Brown, were delighted with 
their reception, were very enthusiastic in 
expressing their admiration, and showed 
their appreciation, by bestowing many 
gifts upon their entertainers ; such as 
handsome Turkey rugs, antique rings, 
mummy hands, pipes, slippers, and howling 
dervish images. Some of these things are 
still found in the families, but most of 
them, like their owners, are gone. 

The party left here, with several Chilli- 



Glimpses of Yesterday, 243 

cotheans, in a large four-seated stage, for 
Portsmouth, where they took a steamboat 
for Cincinnati. From one of the ladies 
who was with the party, I learned that it 
was a bitter cold December morning; 
there had been rain the day before, and 
the temperature changing suddenly, every 
thing was covered with ice glistening in 
the bright sunshine. It was a new expe- 
rience for the Turks, who nearly buried 
themselves in blankets and furs, on the 
back seat of the stage, so that nothing 
was visible but a nose and fez. But as 
the road wound around among the hills 
across Paint Creek, Emin Bey would 
brave the keen air and lean forward to 
gaze with enthusiastic admiration at the 
glistening spectacle, exclaiming, " Dia- 
monds grow on trees in this country." 
At every stopping-place, an eager crowd 
would surround the stage, calling for the 
" Turks." 

It was nearly dark when they reached 
Portsmouth, where they were evidently 



244 Che- Le- Co- The. 



expected, as the crowd increased at every 
square, and the sidewalks were thronged 
when they reached the hotel fronting the 
river. But owing to the manoeuvres of 
one of the Chillicothe gentlemen, who 
placed a muff belonging to one of the 
young ladies on his head (muffs in 
those days were of enormous size) and 
looking out of the stage door, first on 
one side and then on the other, created 
great excitement among the crowd, Mr. 
Brown was enabled to get the Turks out 
of the stage and on to the boat before the 
crowd realized that they had been fooled. 
When the young man dropped his gro- 
tesque head-gear and tried to appear in- 
nocent, the crowd became very angry, 
threatening to put him in the river, and 
but for the presence of the ladies, he could 
not have reached the boat unmolested. 

I am sorry that I could not learn some 
of the details of the reception of the Emin 
Bey Party when they reached Chillicothe, 
but beyond the fact that a large delega- 



Glimpses of Yesterday. 245 

tion of the most honored citizens met 
them on the Columbus Pike, near Hope- 
town, I could learn nothing. It was rather 
a strange coincidence, that on the spot 
where John Porter Brown, in his youth, 
bade good-bye to the kind friends who 
had persuaded him to break away from 
his old associations and to join his uncle, 
Commodore Porter, at Constantinople ; 
on the very spot where they had placed 
him in the wagon which was to take him 
to Philadelphia, he was met with all honor 
on his return to his native city. He must 
have thought of the contrast in the two 
events, and we can imagine a feeling of 
regret that his old friends were not among 
the number who welcomed him. 

I could learn but little about John Por- 
ter Brown's early life, for he went away 
from Chillicothe when a boy just entering 
his teens. The family lived at the lower 
end of Paint Street ; his father was a 
tanner, but unsteady in his habits, and 
failed to provide for his family. His 



2 46 Che-Le- Co- The, 



mother was a sister of Commodore Por- 
ter, and when Miss Davenport, a friend 
of her girlhood, came out from Philadel- 
phia to visit her, she was so distressed to 
find her in such unhappy circumstances 
that she wrote to Commodore Porter, who 
immediately sent for his sister to join him 
at Constantinople where he was then Con- 
sul. But it was with difficulty and by 
strategy that Miss Davenport succeeded in 
getting young Brown to join his mother 
and uncle. He preferred his free and 
easy life, when with gun in hand, he 
would spend days in wandering over the 
hills (for game was abundant then, even 
deer were found). The manliness in his 
nature prevailed, however, and he resolved 
to make something of himself. So he 
went to Miss Davenport and told her that 
if she could arrange it, he was willing to 
go, but that his father was keeping close 
watch over him. Whatever Miss Daven- 
port attempted she carried through ; so 
after getting an outfit ready, she had him 



Glimpses of Yesterday. 247 

meet her near Hopetown, where she had 
gone with Colonel and Mrs. Bond, then, 
changing his clothes in the woods near by 
they placed him in a wagon which was 
going to Philadelphia. 

After a long, weary ride across the 
mountains they reached the city. The 
driver put the boy out at a street corner, 
told him to wait until he returned, and 
drove off with the trunk containing the 
new outfit. After a long wait he realized 
that he was deserted, but remembering 
that Miss Davenport had sewed a letter 
in his coat pocket, he started up the street 
scanning the faces of the passers by. Fi- 
nally, he stopped one whose face he 
thought looked kind, and taking the letter 
from his pocket, asked if he could tell him 
where to find the person to whom it was 
addressed. 

The gentleman looked at him a mo- 
ment and said — '' I am the man." After 
reading the letter, he took the poor for- 
saken boy home and kept him, until there 



248 Che-Le- Co- The, 



was an opportunity to place him in a ves- 
sel going to Constantinople. There he 
grew up to manhood, learned the lan- 
guage, manners, and customs, of the Porte, 
was first made Dragoman, then Charge 
d' Affaires, which position he held until his 
death. It was after he had risen to promi- 
nence that he returned to this country ; 
and it must have been with feelings of 
pride that he visited his native city, and 
met with such cordial and lavish hospital- 
ity from the friends of his youth. 

I do not know whether he ever saw Miss 
Davenport again ; for she went to Cin- 
cinnati, soon after 1840, with Colonel 
Bond's family, but I am sure that if she 
were still living, he saw her when he 
visited that city. 




THE WESTERN BUILDING IN 
THE FIFTIES. 

LIKE most boys living in the west- 
end of Chillicothe, my entry into 
school life was through the Western Build- 
ing, and, naturally, by way of good old 
Miss Pierson's room. I have yet a lively 
recollection of her early discovery of my 
predilection for geography, and of her 
choosing me, when visitors were present, 
to name and point out the State-Capitals ; 
this pleasure was always tempered by the 
fear that New Hampshire's capital would 
be called for, and pride had a fall when 
such was the case, for the nearest my in- 
fantile lips could pronounce it was '* corn- 
cob," and I dreaded the laugh raised at 
my expense. 

249 



250 Che-Le-Co- The, 



As in these latter days, when certain 
** fads " or ** crazes " sweep over the land, 
such as the " Blue Glass Craze," Spelling 
Bees, Crusades, *' Commonwealers," and 
so forth, so such epidemics used to break 
out at school. The first that I can remem- 
ber was playing soldier, when we were 
formed into companies and drilled, and 
on one occasion were marched to the old 
ash-pile that used to be where the northern 
entrance to the Park now is. Later on 
came a Licorice-water epidemic, when 
nearly every boy in the Western Building 
was selling a compound of licorice, sugar, 
and water. The invariable price, even of 
the best brands, was a pin for a drink, and 
the proprietor's finger was held carefully to 
a certain spot, while the beverage was gurg- 
ling down the purchaser's throat. What 
became of the formidable array of pins in 
the lapels of the boys' coats, I am unable to 
say, except that a small portion, after being 
bent to a certain shape, found their way 
into the benches of some of the pupils. 



Glimpses of Yesterday. 251 

Later on came the mania for ring-mak- 
ing, when mussel shells, hard rubber but- 
tons, and cannel coal, were being rubbed 
by scores of boys on the stone-facings, and 
sills of the school building, or were being 
bored out with rat-tail files. The rings 
made from pink shells were the most 
prized. 

I recall the indisposition for active exer- 
tion on the part of one of the boys, when 
a group of us were telling each other what 
trade or profession we intended to follow 
when we were grown. Most of us thought 
that we would be confectioners, but he 
said he intended to be a drayman, so that 
he could always ride for nothing. He 
was bright enough, however, to win the 
prize for the greatest improvement in 
penmanship ; although the best penman in 
school, he had begun his copy-book with a 
miserable scrawl, but continued gradually 
to improve until at the end of the term 
he wrote so well that the prize was handed 
over to him without any hesitation. 



252 Che-Le- Co- The. 



This brings to mind the time that Mr. 
Reid, the writing teacher, vexed some of 
the boys. They got even with him by in- 
ducing every boy and girl, when the next 
copy-books had to be bought, to bring 
their dimes all in one-cent pieces (the big 
old-fashioned ones at that), and Mr. Reid's 
anger can be imagined when he lifted the 
load that he had to carry. 

The epidemics before spoken of were 
not always confined to the boys, as many 
of us can recall the time when the poke- 
bonnet swept over the land ; every girl in 
the Western Building had one within a 
very short period after its advent, and 
later on, its contrast, the saucy turban, 
had its inning and was as universally 
popular. 

In those days much more latitude was 
allowed the scholars in their games than 
now ; on one occasion ''fox and hounds" 
was played clear over on the side of Spring 
Hill, and parties were sometimes gotten 
up to rob the orchard of old Colonel Tay- 



Glimpses of Yesterday. 253 

lor, who lived where Mr. David Smart 
afterwards dwelt for some time. This 
freedom may have been caused, in part, 
by the open grounds of the school, which 
for many years were not fenced in on the 
south side. After Wood's Indian show 
had exhibited in Chillicothe, the boys went 
daft on the subject of Indians, and I well 
remember the wild dance and the bonfire in 
the front yard of the school, the boys hav- 
ing their faces stained with poke-berries, 
and their heads ornamented with chicken 
feathers, while on the fire was laid the 
dead body of a dog, which was roasted 
amid the outlandish yells and " war- 
whoops" of " us boys." 

Many other things come to my mind as 
I write, that would be of interest to old 
school-mates, and might possibly be to 
others, but I have already written more 
than I intended, and perhaps more than I 
ought, so I will call a halt on myself. 



LUCY WEBB HAYES. 

POSITIVE traits of character are not 
the result of accident, but come in 
the way indicated by Carlisle, when he 
said, "No great man was ever born of 
fools." That which made the object of 
this sketch distinguished was not the acci- 
dent of occupying the high position of 
wife of the President of the United States, 
but was the inevitable outcome, under any 
circumstances, of inheritance and of influ- 
ences which began at her cradle. We 
propose to speak, however, only of that 
period of the life of Lucy Webb Hayes 
which belongs peculiarly to Chillicothe. 
Tenderness, and kindness of heart, and a 
desire to minister to the unfortunate, were 
the ruling motives of her life. 
254 




LUCY WKBB HAYES 



Glimpses of Yesterday. 255 

Dr. James Webb, her father, was born 
in Kentucky and served in the war of 
1 8 1 2. He was of the finest type of South- 
ern gentlemen, generous, tender, chiv- 
alrous, and opposed to slavery. Her 
mother, Maria Cook, daughter of Judge 
Isaac Cook of Puritan stock, was a woman 
of unusual strength of character and re- 
ligious convictions. 

Dr. Webb lost his life in Kentucky, 
during a terrible scourge of cholera, 
while nursing his father's family. Mrs. 
Webb, thus being left a widow early in 
life, devoted herself to the problem of 
rearing and educating her children. Lucy 
being a great favorite with her grand- 
father, Judge Cook, whose temperance 
principles were most pronounced, early 
Imbibed from him those views which so 
greatly influenced her afterlife, and which 
have made her name an Inspiration to all 
temperance workers. 

In course of time, she became a pupil 
in Miss Baskerville's school. Some inci- 



256 Che-Le-Co-Thi 



dents occurred during that period, which 
Illustrate the dominant traits of her char- 
acter, not only in childhood, but In all her 
after life. The following Is told as a part 
of her own experience, by a friend still a 
resident of Chillicothe : 

There came one day into the school 
two little girls, who were the daughters of 
a well-to-do widow recently arrived from 
Germany, attracted to the new world by 
Its more liberal institutions. Wishing to 
secure the best educational advantages 
for her daughters, she placed them in 
Miss Baskervllle's school. The little 
strangers were dressed, of course, in the 
fashions of Germany, with their hair hang, 
ing in plaits down their backs. '' Original 
sin " crops out In girls, as well as in boys, 
and the little foreigners were made the 
butt of school-girl pranks and ridicule, 
and their toes were stepped on to call 
attention to the queerly shaped shoes 
they wore. Lucy at once became the 
champion of the forlorn little strangers. 



Glimpses of Yesterday, 257 

carrying them off to play under the big 
shady trees of the school-yard, and keep- 
ing a bright lookout that they were not 
imposed upon by the mischief-loving girls. 
Producing from her pocket the necessary 
materials, she cut out, and together they 
sewed doll clothes, thus making them for- 
get, in the happy moments under the 
trees, the slights and contempt so keenly 
felt by children. One of these little gar- 
ments was treasured by one of the sisters 
until her death, many years afterwards. 
The survivor, in relating this story, 
said earnestly, "' We never forgot Lucy 
Webb, neither did we forget the girl who 
trod on our toes." 

There was plenty of fire in Lucy Webb's 
nature, and she was fearless in resenting 
wrong even in high places, as the follow- 
ing will show : One day she took a small 
cousin (now Gen. J. S. Fullerton) to 
school as a visitor. Miss Baskerville, 
with that disregard for the polite amenities 
for which she was famous, proceeded to 



258 Che-Le- Co- The, 



apply her switch to the small visitor, for 
some fancied dereliction. Miss Basker- 
ville was an autocrat unequalled by any 
Russian czar, and to question her author- 
ity was an unheard of enormity among her 
pupils. But Lucy flew at her like a little 
fury, twisting the switch from her hand, 
and crying, " How dare you whip Joe, I 
brought him here to visit, and you shan't 
touch him." The school sat breathless, 
expecting to see the daring offender wiped 
out from off the face of the earth, but the 
grim old lady smiled and dismissed the 
children with some caustic remark. Lucy 
carried Joe off home, to pour out her in- 
dignant heart to his mother, and it is 
needless to add that never again did she 
take a visitor to Miss Baskerville's school. 

Her nature was not more sympathetic 
than joyous and happy. No one who 
knew her can forget the sunshiny effect 
of her presence in any company or house- 
hold. 

Mrs. Webb, in time, removed from Chil- 



Glimpses of Yesterday. 259 

licothe to Delaware, Ohio, to educate her 
sons, and Lucy received instruction from 
the Professors of the College. After- 
wards, they removed to Cincinnati, where 
she graduated at the Wesleyan College, a 
school of high character. Lucy, at this 
time, was sixteen years old, and her 
appearance is thus described by a school- 
mate, and life-long friend, Mrs. Dr. John 
Davis, of Cincinnati, who has written a 
most complete and appreciative sketch of 
her life : 

'* A pure, innocent face, somewhat shy 
and demure in expression. Large hazel 
eyes, capable of dancing with mirth, or 
melting into tenderness. Abundant dark, 
glossy hair, worn not unlike the style 
with which you are all familiar. Mouth 
sweet and expressive, classically formed 
nose, arched eyebrows, full, intellectual 
forehead, and complexion known as rose 
brunette. She was of medium height, 
with slender, girlish form, in a dress of 



26o Che-Le-Cch The, 



gray cashmere, made in the extreme of 
simpHcity. The tout ensemble gave the 
impression of a certain naive refinement, 
not unHke that of the Puritan maiden, 
Priscilla, whose picture is so exquisitely 
drawn for us by Longfellow. This is 
how I saw her that day in school, stand- 
ing by my desk, as I looked up from my 
book." 

That after a lapse of forty-one years, 
Mrs. Davis could so distinctly recall her 
looks, her tone, her dress, is evidence 
of her intense personality, which so im- 
pressed itself upon her friends, that they 
can still almost hear her voice, see the 
light of her beautiful eyes, and feel the 
charm of her smile which was a strongly 
marked feature of her youth. 

Mrs. Webb's residence now became 
fixed in Cincinnati, and there, Lucy re- 
newed the friendship begun in Delaware, 
with Rutherford B. Hayes, which culmi- 
nated in their marriage. Chillicothe was 



Glimpses of Yesterday, 261 

never again to be her home, but to it 
she returned constantly, turning with joy 
from the honors and excitements of later 
years, to its tranquil atmosphere, and its, 
to her, ever sacred memories. 



THE END. 







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